


Supergirl's Girls

by LyrZetara



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: A follow up to Supergirl's Girl, F/F, I consider it a platonic relationship but as always it's up to interpretation, If you do art based on this fic I would love to see it!!!, Lera Luthor is back, keep reading I promise it improves, more characters involved - Freeform, ongoing, set six months after previous fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-05-30 22:03:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 57,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19412302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyrZetara/pseuds/LyrZetara
Summary: Lena, Kara and Lera now have a new life to adjust to, while trying to figure out just how to be a family and all the things that implies, especailly when no one is to know about it and new faces appear to turn the tides on them...(Follow up from story Supergirl's Girl)





	1. Chapter 1

Getting hurt in the field was just part of the job, Kara knew it, Lena was getting used to the idea of Supergirl occasionally flying in through the balcony with some wound that needed stitches, but neither of them were used to this new image.

The door slammed open as both women dragged in their clone, the marvelous Cadmus Project they prevented Lillian from manipulating and now they could proudly call daughter.

"Are you ok?" Lena asked concerned as she maintained the pressure on Lera's arm to stop the bleeding.

"I'm fine mom" she replied, her tone was at the verge of frustration as she for the fifth time had to reassure the raven-haired woman she was indeed ok.

"You weren't ready for a solo mission" Kara scolded while taking a closer look at the bruise in Lera's head "You should have waited for backup; Aunt Alex was mere blocks away"

"Yeah, holding a contingency" Lera countered "The attackers were going to scape, I did exactly what you would"

"Don't defend yourself on my strategy" Supergirl said as the CEO turned around to reach for the first aid kit "Specially not in front of Lena" she mumbled. Kara didn't want to be on the receiving end of an argument regarding good judgment with Lena.

Lera smiled despite herself "All I'm saying is that I'm ok. Disaster adverted"

"Barely" Lena said unzipping the suit to pull down the sleeve and examine her shoulder "How could they rip bullet-proof fabric?"

"Ask Winn" Lera said sarcastically, but her mom didn't find it amusing.

"I'm not liking this pattern, it's the third time this month you get medical attention" Lena pointed.

"I am only getting it because you two are overreacting" Lera sighed feeling both parents over her "Ok, enough, please!" she raised her arms taking a step back "I know it's new to all of us, but it's been almost six months since Cadmus. I'm aware you don't like me tacking risks, but as long as I can help people I will" she explained "I am trying to be careful, I'm just getting the hang of things, but you can't worry so much about me"

"That's our job, sweetie" Lena coped one of her cheeks as she always did.

"And I love you both for that, dearly" she placed her hand on top of Lena's "It's just exhausting" she admitted "You need to trust me. I am both your DNA's after all. I can control my powers and I am smart enough to know when a strategy is going to fail. I'm not taking these risks blindly, but if there's a shot that what I do might save someone, then I will take those odds"

It was hard not to feel pride in her words. It was harder to have to share her to the world when both parents just wanted to keep her safe and sound under their watch.

Lena finally chuckled "Are they good odds at least?"

"They are 58% rate for success" Lera frowned "Maybe 47%, depending on weather"

Kara smirked "We trust you, Lera. It's just tough to see you get hurt, we care for you. I would take every hit if it meant you wouldn't. I don't want you to feel any pain. That isn't hard for you to understand, right?"

Lera took in a deep breath and slowly let it all out "No, I get it" she walked forwards wrapping her arms around both "I'm sorry to make you worry, but I'm not a little kid"

"Of course you are" Lena kissed the top of her head "you aren't even one year old"

Lera snickered "I'm going to take a shower, I'll see you afterwards"

"Ok" Kara stroke her hair "We love you"

The teen smiled brightly "I know"

As she walked away, Lena couldn't do anything else but hide her face under her hands and groan.

"Why is this so hard?"

"It doesn't have to be" Kara said soothingly, taking Lena by the waist to drive her to her arms "Lera is right, we need to let her spread her wings"

"Metaphorical wings, the boots got busted mid mission, she collapsed to the ground"

"She managed a smooth landing"

"Crash landing" Lena corrected.

"My point being" Kara cut her off "she can take care of herself and she's right, we have to trust her"

"I trust her, is the rest for the world that frightens me" Lena finally allowed the stiffness on her body go away and crumbled, letting her shoulders hang and resting her forehead against the hero's while Kara stroke her back "It's just that…you don't get it Kara"

"What?" she asked taken aback.

"You have powers, you get to fly by her side, you get to be there and be invincible, take a bullet for her and I… I'm only human. I stay on ground, watching the screens fearing that something might go wrong and when it does I feel utterly useless because I couldn't be there, help, protect either of you" Lena stopped herself as she felt her voice cracking "I'm just saying that I feel how you would if you carried kryptonite with you all the time, I feel…weak"

"Oh Lena, come here" Kara rubbed her back allowing Lena to cuddle into her shoulder "You are the strongest person I know, you hear me?" she whispered into her ear "I didn't stop to think you might feel this way, I should have…" she exhaled "I'm sorry"

Lena shook her head against her "You don't have to apologize"

"I feel like I should" she softly started rocking her from side to side before moving the black hair out of the way and mumbling "step on my toes"

"Wha-?"

"I won't feel it" she assured, making the other woman stand on her red boots before tightening the grip around Lena's waist and gently took off, levitating soothingly while still rocking her gently.

Lena rested against her, embracing the hero to allow all her worries to melt away.

"Better?" Supergirl asked quietly while Lena only nodded in response.

"This is how you make me feel every time I see you" Kara confessed "having someone to go back to is the whole reason I even go out there. I want a better world for you and Lera. Hopefully one day the world won't need heroes anymore and I can hang the cape and I wouldn't even be sad about it, because I would be coming home to you"

Lena smiled widely, even if the hero couldn't see it, but her accelerated heartbeat was enough for Kara to know she had at least moved her, that was all she needed.

"I love you" Kara whispered, even in privacy she felt like a scholar confessing her feelings, Lena could do that to her.

"Love you too" she answered with such honesty in her tone there was no doubt about her words.

Lera walked into the room shortly after, super speed was one of her greatest traits after all. She quietly watched them levitate around the room and smiled. She folded her arms and leaned into a wall.

She loved their interactions, even if they could only act in such way while being alone. That was partially because of her. People had come to know Lera was a Luthor, 'adopted' by the CEO, as they had agreed to say to the press, practically the same way Lena was introduced. On the other hand, the protégé of Supergirl, although mostly kept away from the media was now on the spot as well. So, to protect both identities for Kara and Lera, the closeness between the Super and the Luthor, was kept on the dark. Lera often felt amusement on the ignorance of the people, if only they knew they had a daughter.

The teen sighed, a small playful smirk on her face, but the little sound was all it took for the super hearing of the Kryptonian to notice they had been caught.

"Lera!" Kara noticed her there snickering.

"Sorry, I wasn't spying" she raised her hands "I was going to ask where I'm going to spend the night, to know if I should pack"

Kara landed softly "She can stay with you if you want, to take care of that cut"

"I don't need medical atten-" Lera was starting, but cut herself off "Never mind" she shook her head "But is it ok if I stay mom? I could use help fixing the anti-gravity boots" she said.

"Sure" Kara nodded.

It was still a struggle. Since Lera was legally adopted by Lena she lived with the CEO, but because Kara was also her mother, she liked to spend some days with her.

"We have that public event tomorrow" Kara reminded Lena.

"Right, so you can pick Lera up at noon, we can eat together and then she can go to the DEO with you"

"Then, if the evening is not eventful, we'll see you at CatCo"

"This could be easier if you lived together" Lera said a bit exhausted of this routine where they danced around each other from a safe distance so no one would know their relation.

"We've talked about it" Kara said in a firm yet soft tone.

"I know, I know" Lera backed down from the verbal dispute "I'm just saying"

"Your concern is noted" Lena said "now come here and say goodbye to Kara so we can start repairing those boots"

"And that cut on your arm" Kara added as she received the teen in arms "take care" she kissed her head "If there's an emergency tonight, wait for me before flying into the scene"

"Right now, I couldn't fly, but I'll wait for you so I can run there"

"That's the spirit" she held her in arms one last time before letting go "See you later, Lera"

"Bye, mom"

"Lena" Kara looked up as she was captured by the CEO.

"Until tomorrow" the Luthor said as Kara felt her cheeks burn.

"Ye-yeah, to-tomorrow"

Kara smiled goofily turning around to fly off.

Lera couldn't help but to chuckle as Lena folded her arms and watched the hero leave.

She then turned around noticing the sly smirk on her daughter's face.

"Don't" Lena warned.

"I didn't say a thing"


	2. Chapter 2

Lena Luthor walked into the office with the confidence of a queen ruling ten countries. She had that quality into her. Everywhere she walked into, she imposed her presence, but there was one other person that could do the same.

"I need the update on the political rally" Lena asked putting her purse aside being followed by her daughter.

The CEO was about to sit when the chair turned away from the screen to do a grand entrance; a trademark a certain person was known for.

"The whole committee arrived 45 minutes ago" Cat Grant said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Lena was almost surprised by her presence, but was now somewhat used to these spasmodic appearances.

"Miss Grant"

"I think we can drop the formalities and be on a first name basis. You are raising my baby after all" she stood up looking at Lera "But not only mine by the looks of it" she walked towards "Lira, what a lovely surprise"

"Miss Grant" Lera smiled confidently.

"Those are some adorable glasses" Cat pointed at the ones the teen was wearing "But I thought you said you had 20/20 vision" she said knowingly

"They are trendy" Lera shrugged her shoulders.

Cat smirked "They look just fine" she then gazed around "Kara is nowhere to be found"

"She's covering an event for me" Lena replied.

"Covering being the operative word in your lives" she raised an issue of the magazine in which Lera appeared saving the day alongside Supergirl "I did say you would end up on the cover"

Lena discreetly closed the door as well as the blinds.

"Don't worry about them, if they worked alongside Kara and haven't figured out she's Supergirl yet, your daughter has nothing to fear" Cat assured.

"Do you have more news to bare us or is this visit is merely friendly?"

"Well, I always try to be friendly" Cat retorted "Unless political affiliations play a part in it"

"So, you are here just for the debate?" Lena asked, she unlike Cat Grant, liked to be forward.

"And the joy of seeing girl power in action" she went through the pages "How come the media hasn't named you yet? Six months and they can't do the job I did in days when I named Supergirl?" she put the article down measuring up Lera from head to toe "Girl power alright… huh, Power Girl?" she said out loud "Ugh, I don't know, I feel like I'm stealing someone else's idea on that one" she turned around "Anyways, when Kara does show up, please tell her the perimeter is secure for the event"

"The DEO will be present, nonetheless" Lena informed what Kara had told her.

"Yeah, Aunt Alex still thinks it's the perfect place for an attack"

"Yeah, I'm afraid she might be right, many political figures gathered in just one place, it's like an invite to an open season" Cat agreed "Still, you can't talk politicians out of these things, that the main reason they are there, their poor judgment surprises me sometimes"

"Can I quote you on that?" Lena asked teasingly.

Cat smiled her award-winning grin while putting the sunglasses back on "I'll see you in an hour, ladies"  
___________________________________________

Supergirl made a landing behind the CatCo building where no one could see her, of course, except for the two people awaiting for her.

"You are dangerously close to running late" Lena said with an amused smile.

"Yeah, I'm sorry" she moved the hair out of the way.

"Well, hello Kara" Lena said teasingly.

"What do you mean?" she asked taken aback.

"Mom, your glasses" Lera pointed at her own and just then the hero noticed she was wearing them as well.

"That explains why Alex was making fun of me!" she took them off.

"And you still wander how I figured out your identity?"

"I was really careful, Lena" Kara said defensively.

"Yeah, by flying on a bus" she made fun.

"Hey, you didn't caught on that at first"

"Who says I didn't?"

Kara frowned her nose making a childish face that melted away the Luthor with a laugh.

"Well, never mind that, Cat Grant dropped by hopping to find you"

"Ow" she said surprised "A shame I wasn't there, I guess I'll see her at the ceremony" she said "Well, ready, Lera?"

"Yeah, my suit is under" she pressed her lips looking at them quizzically "Should I be there as Lera Luthor sitting on the front row or as Supergirl's sidekick on the front line?"

Both parents stared blankly "What do you mean, sweetie?"

"I mean…" she groaned debating herself "I know Kara Danvers is a reporter that won't be there to account the event, because people need Supergirl, but…" she scratched the back of her head "Lera should be on the event, right? I mean, mom you are there as a Luthor, I'm your daughter, I-I mean I'm both your daughter's, but it would be weird if as your daughter, I wasn't there sitting next to you. But I also should be there to protect the people, correct? If everyone knows I'm a hero, it would be right to be there with you mom, with Supergirl"

The Super and the Luthor exchanged looks, they didn't know the division of alter egos mattered so much to her.

"Well, what do you want to be today, sweetie?" Lena asked.

"I-I don't know, both?" she fidgeted with her fingers "Must I choose?"

"I'm afraid so" Lena squeezed her shoulder encouragingly "If you want to be a hero, I can perfectly say you weren't feeling too well and you rather stayed at home. Or I can ignore all the press" she smiled.

"I think you've faced enough press on my behalf, mom" Lera admitted messing her own hair up.

"Tell you what" Kara interrupted "Go be a civilian, if there is any sign of trouble, you can become a hero"

Lera pondered at the idea for a second before nodding "Thanks"

"Then, I better get going and you should call your limousine" Kara said, but before she could fly off, she was caught by the powerful embrace of the teen "Oh, hey there" she laid her palm on top of her head "everything ok?"

"Yeah just…sorry. Next time I'll choose the hero"

"You…don't have to feel like you are choosing"

Lera shook her head "I-I know, still just…sorry for leaving you alone on this one"

"I'm never alone, I have both of you" she pressed a kiss on her forehead then bopping the point of her nose "see you in a bit" she flew off and both watched her flee as Lena tucked her daughter next to her.


	3. Chapter 3

Everything was going smoothly with the debate, which meant, Lera was that close to dozing off. She felt her head falling forwards as she tried her best to stay awake.

Lera moaned while rubbing her face. She hadn't considered just how late she stayed up last night fixing the boots.

She felt smooth fingers running through the back of her head. Lera smiled as her mom caressed her hair.

"Sorry, I'm awake"

"I could tell" she teased lightly "Thank you for staying with me, sweetie"

Lera chuckled and leaned into her shoulder "Gladly" she hid a yawn "I'm just not build for political functions, how you do it amazes me, I'm your DNA and I'm about to pass out"

"Years of practice, but don't worry it's almost-"

And then what was bound to happen, did.

An explosion detonated behind the podiums before an alarm went off. Panic spread in a second as people ran away looking for cover. That was the cue Lera needed to change alter egos.

"Mom" she began.

"Go" Lena nodded

In the blink of an eye, Lera was already in her suit and flying next to Supergirl.

"I'll get the politicians out of here, make sure the civilians don't get hurt, there could be a second explosion" Kara instructed.

"On it"

"And be careful" she called over her shoulder before taking off. Lera was following orders, she truly was going to stick to the plan, but then, it all escalated right before her eyes.

The alarm was for an incoming object. A missile was aiming at them.

She ran the trajectory in her mind and before she even considered anything else, she flew right into the massive object. She reached it and then mimicked its speed before trying to pull it back and slow it down to change direction. Unluckily, she wasn't strong enough, the impulse in her boots wasn't enough to counter the rockets in the missile.

"Come on! Come on!" she put all her might into the task as the weapon started to arc for a descent.

Suddenly, a swooshing sound cut through the air and she felt the weight being considerably less. She opened her eyes to see another pair of hands helping, and neither could have guessed who the other was.

Lera smiled brightly "Uncle!" she said as the Man of Steel did his best to help.

"Uncle?" he repeated looking to his left to find the teen "You aren't Supergirl" he said.

"Yeah, well, no I'm-"

And then the rocket got extra propulsion making both heroes lose their grip on the missile as it began to fall.

They dived to try and slow it.

"We can't stop it" Superman said "We have to change its direction"

"It's no use, it already lost too much altitude, wherever we send it to, it will still cost casualties" Lera said "But I can make it harmless" an idea sparked in her eyes "Superman, go to the nose and slow it down as much as you can. Don't destroy the rockets, I need it to still be on motion"

Superman wasn't sure if he should trust this so called allied, she was indeed wearing an S on her chest, but alongside an L he was accustomed to mistrust.

"Please, Kal!" she emphasized the urgency and upon being called by his Kryptonian name, he reacted and carried the whole weight of the missile.

Lera rapidly reached the control box and began to overrun it manually If she could ever thank Cadmus for something other than being engineered, was the fact that she had all the knowledge to immobilize a threat.

"Done! It won't detonate on impact. Just make sure to have a soft landing"

"Easier said than done!" he yelled back.

Luckily, he wouldn't have to do it alone "Hey cuz!" Kara flew to his side helping him "all the people is safe down there, so let's hit this one out of the park"

"No sudden moves!" Lera advised as the too reached for the nose of the missile "Mom, you take down the propulsion, one a time, use your breath"

"On it" she flew off and the one and only thing Superman cared to think at that time was that one word.

"Mom?"

They landed the projectile carefully settling it down before breathing again.

"That was close" Clark said relieved.

"That was fun!" Lera turned around, excitement written all over her face "I can't believe I finally meet you!"

Kara walked towards as Clark gazed sternly at her "I think we need to talk" he said.

A squad appeared on the scene "We'll take care of the bomb"

"It's already deactivates, just take out the core material and the rest of the missile should be useless" Lera informed.

"Thank you" they nodded.

"Let's talk somewhere private" he suggested, knowing just where they would all be safe.  
___________________________________________________

They landed on the DEO's balcony. Lera immediately took the boots off, she needed to make some adjustments if she wanted to be prepared for the next contingency.

"I really need to fly on my own" she said out loud.

"We'll visit your powers again" Kara assured while Clark crossed his arms.

"Mind filling me in, cuz?"

Kara fidgeted with her hands "I'm guessing you don't watch National City's news"

"Haven't had the time, my plate is full as well"

"Right" she cleared her throat "Plus we've keeping her out of the media, so that makes sense" she told herself.

"Kara?" Superman said in a demanding tone.

"Um…Clark…this is Lera" she drove her to her arms, standing her in front of herself "She's…my daughter"

If there was ever going to be a time the man of steel was caught off guard, that was definitely it.

He chocked on his saliva as he compared the two, there were irrefutably traits they both shared.

"Your daughter?" he repeated trying to breath in "How? Are you from the future?" he asked the teen directly.

"No?" she shrugged "I'm barely been here for mere months, plus whatever time I spent on the pod" she said retrospectively.

"Kara" Clark said again as the information was giving out far more doubts than answers.

"It's a bit complicated, she's mine and-"

"Thank goodness you are here" the elevator opened as Lena walked in.

"Way to wait for backup, sis" Alex said a bit annoyed.

"S-sorry, but we had all the backup we needed with that missile"

"I've noticed" she smiled at Superman "Thank you for the assist. And hey, great going with the bomb, kid. Nice thinking"

"Thanks, Aunt"

"Are you alright, thought?" Lena inspected her before pulling her into a hug "You saved all that people, I'm so proud" she said.

"Thanks, mom" she hugged back and now Superman was really that close to losing his coolness.

"Kara"

Supergirl turned around to face him one last time "Um…do you remember Lena?" she said with an awkward smile "She's…also, Lera's mom"

"What?!"

"Cadmus did some experiment with our DNA and combined them into her, she's our daughter"

"Oh! Mister Kent, I'm so glad to see you again" Lena walked forward stretching her arm out.

But Superman didn't take too kindly the name basis "Kara, a word" he grabbed her arm sternly dragging her to another room.

"H-Hey cuz, you are gripping too tight"

"You told the sister of my enemy my name?!" he freed her arm harshly,

"Lena is nothing like Lex" Kara stated "plus, we are raising a kid together, I think I was way past secrets at this point, I told her everything"

"Your secret identity is yours to have, but you shouldn't have tempered with mine, specially not with her kind"

"Her kind?"

"You know what I mean. She's a Luthor"

"Yeah, a Luthor that has proven over and over again she's nothing like her family"

"You don't know that"

"You don't know her"

"I thought I knew Lex, he was my friend and look how that ended up. He knew me all too well, he learned everything about me to then explode every weakness. I don't want that happening to you, that's why it pains me to say this, but you better put some distance"

"What?"

"You've become too attach, you let her into your life, it's time to take a step back"

"Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Are you even listening at all?" he countered "Kara, I'm trying to keep your best interests at heart" he grabbed her shoulders "you can't work with her, let alone raise a kid"

"Are you telling me to abandon them?!" she half shouted "What if it ever happened to you?! What if you had a Superboy, even if it was with Lex's DNA, would you turn your back on him? Your own blood?"

"If its tempered with Luthor's DNA then maybe!"

Kara pushed him away "I don't believe you, Kal" she said brokenly "Did you at least given them a chance? You are judging so harshly before even meeting them"

"I don't need to meet them, I know them"

"You are so wrong" Kara felt tears in her eyes "You know the worst part is?" she sniffed "You didn't even stop once to ask me how I felt about it. Because if you had then I would have been able to tell you just how happy I am to have a family" she clenched her teeth "Of all the people I though you would get that. I guess I was wrong"

The slightest sound was heard from the door and both could see Lena standing there.

"I'm…sorry to interrupt. I was just…I realize now that me calling you for your civilian name wasn't addecuat. If you wanted J'onn can erase that information from my brain. He says it wouldn't hurt. Would that be more accepta- " Lena cut herself off when she noticed Kara's puffy eyes and red nose "Are-are you alright?"

"Where's Lera?" she asked walking to the entrance.

"With Alex"

"Good, we are leaving"

"Oh, okay. Should I ask J'onn to erase your cousin's name?"

"What for? As far as I'm concerned, I don't have a cousin right now" she reached for her hand squeezing tight before looking over her shoulder at him "You should leave, Superman"

He pressed his fist stumping with every step before passing before them.

"I hope you are happy, Miss Luthor. You managed what Lex and Lillian couldn't"

"Out!" Kara shouted pointing at the exit as her other hand protectively drove Lena against her body.

He scowled going to the balcony where everyone seemed puzzled by his early departure and his oddly ire expression.

"I'll go back to Metropolis, I don't think I am coming back anytime soon, so take care" he said over his shoulder.

"Wait!" Lera urged going to his side "It was…really nice meeting you, Uncle. I can't tell you how many times I've seen you on TV, you are incredible"

He almost allowed a smile to fill his lips "Take care" he said before flying off.  
________________________________

Kara manage to keep everything in just long enough for her to reach Lena's apartment and allow herself to deal with all the feelings inside. She so desperately wanted to use her heat vision and make one of the chairs desapear under the exposure.

"I just can't believe him!" she said what she been thinking the whole ride "He's just-! If he really cared about me-!" she hid her face behind her hands fighting the tears.

"I'm sorry, Kara" Lena's voice faintly echoed "I…I don't want to be the reason you turn your back on your family" she said softly.

"He wanted me to turn my back on you" she grabbed her hand "I'm the one that is sorry, he shouldn't have said those things to you"

"I am a Luthor, Kara. No matter where I go, I'll always be. We can't escape that" Lena countered "I do understand where he is coming from"

"Well, I don't"

"My brother did unspeakable things to him, I can't blame him for not trusting me"

"You are not your brother" Kara said firmly.

Lena sighed "I know, and I know you would fight for my good name every time, but maybe it isn't worth it" she pressed her hand firmly "I have to answer for all the wrongs my family has done and honestly I'm exhausted" she said a bit defeated "I wish I could have your resolve, but I don't. At times, I just wish for a fresh start, going somewhere no one knew who I was, but I can't hide what is in my name"

"And you shouldn't" Kara reaffirmed

"Just…please Kara. Let this one slide. I don't want to keep you apart from your only relative"

"Lena" Kara said with little voice.

"It's ok"

"No, it isn't" she drove her to her arms hugging tightly "I promise, I'll find us a little getaway. Somewhere you don't have to be a Luthor more than I have to be a Super"

"I don't think such place exist in this reality" she huffed trying to laugh through her sadness.

"Let me worry about that"


	4. Chapter 4

Lena waited at the entrance of the L-Corp building. She was supposed to meet and important man. An investor from out of town. And apparently, he didn't have the manners to show on time.

Lena was really just that close to being done with everything. Although Kara insisted she was alright, she knew all too well that her argument with the Man of Steel had gotten into her. She could relate. Lex used to be the one person Lena could talk to, at least before he turned out to be an evil genius. When they took Lex away, they also took the only friend she had, the only Luthor she could call family. Now that Supergirl didn't have Superman, Lena knew Kara felt that kind of loss too.

Lena sighed and checked her wrist watch for a fourth time in the past hour. She exhaled.

Lera exited the building looking as bored as Lena felt.

"He isn't here yet, mom?"

"No." she exhaled "It appears like Mr. Wayne doesn't care much for formalities"

A car raced next to them as a window pulled down "Murderer!" a man shouted as he threw a cup of coffee Lena's way.

Lera felt ire running through as she was about to catch the cup and throw it right back at the man, luckily her mother tenderly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let it be"

"But-!"

"I know which fights are worth fighting" she answered resolved.

Lera grunted but did nothing otherwise "Can we go now, please?" she urged. Lena knew she meant for her not to be on the open and as a target. Recently more people had acquired the habit of aiming threats at the CEO. Lera didn't had the slightest clue as to what had provoked these people to have such an outburst. Lena sadly did read the newspapers and a note form the Daily Planet had her name in the front page, the author was no other than innocent Clark Kent. Lena tried not to take it too personally. She knew he was trying to protect Kara in his own way.

Why was she still defending him? Even Lena wasn't sure of the reason.

"I'll give Mr. Wayne fifteen more minutes. After that, we can go home to your moth-" she caught herself "to Kara" she corrected. When in the open, she had to make sure no one would overhear them.

"Fifteen minutes" Lera repeated as a statement.

"Ok" she copped her cheeks landing a kiss on her forehead "Now, you can wander off a little if you want"

"Not too far" Lera said "Just in case your bodyguards aren't enough"

"I can deal with empty threats. A cup of already cold coffee landing at my feet won't make me lose sleep"

Lera actually chuckled at that "I know, mom" she smiled brightly and Lena melted away. The girl had her eyes and many other features of a Luthor, but that ear to ear grin in a kind, almost adorkable way, was definitely something that didn't belong to Lena. That was Kara.

Lena watched her leave for a short stroll to the end of the street. Although her sight was fixed to the floor as she kicked an empty can, Lena could tell Lera was focusing her superhearing for any potential threats. She was always ready for a sneak attack. Neither parent liked that habit. That was Cadmus training preventing her from taking her guard down, even if she was just doing so to protect them and herself, it was an issue they hadn't been able to tackle. Even now, Lera was in full uniform under her daily clothes. She couldn't relate to the world without expecting the world to turn against her in any given time. With or without Cadmus programming her brain or controlling her actions, she was a living weapon. But she could be more.

Lera sighed as she hid her hands on the pocket of her jacket. Just when she looked up, she noticed another girl mere feet apart. She smiled politely at Lera, whom was taken aback, she somehow had missed her presence.

"Your boots are really cool" the other teen said.

"They are actually pretty warm" Lera replied.

"Oh, I meant they are neat" she corrected.

Lera awkwardly smiled trying to contextualize the phrase, somehow, she could tell the other girl wasn't complementing the fact that her boots were clean.

The girl smiled feeling compassion for the utter despair Lera was in "They look good on you" she offered.

"Oh!" she chuckled a bit ashamed of her lack of urban vocabulary "Thank you" she scratched the back of her head. She then inspected her "I like your hair"

"Thanks!" the girl took one trim "I thought they had cut it too short, but I'm coming to terms with it"

"It's perfect, it frames your face, makes your features soft" she pointed out matter-of-factly.

The girl blushed a bit by the unintentional compliment "I'm Stephanie" she stretched her hand out.

"Le-"

"Hey Steph!" a guy approached them "Come on! The movie is going to start in ten!"

"In a minute, Tim!" she called over her shoulder, but the boy didn't have a problem with walking towards, wrapping an arm around Stephanie's shoulders "Who's your friend?"

"She was just about to reveal what her parents chose her fate to be"

Lera blinked confused before realizing what she meant "Right! My name" to be fair, she had named herself "Lera" she finally said.

"Well, Lera, I haven't seen you around, do you go to a private school?" Steph asked.

"No, I don't go to school" she said plainly.

"Really? You flunked out?" Tim asked.

Lera frowned at the expression, Cadmus had taught her how to speak eight languages, but the casual English wasn't among her expertise "I-I, well, my mom teaches me"

"Oh! So, you study from home"

"Yeah" Lera smiled grateful that the girl could simplify things.

"Well that's lame" Tim said "I mean, no offense but it has to be boring, how do you make friends?"

"I don't have friends" Lera stated what was obvious to her, but the statement seemed to shock both of them. Their expressions turned surprised and confused, even pity crossed across their eyes. Lera couldn't figure out why such reaction made her feel ill in the stomach.

"Man, I'm sorry" Tim said empathically.

"Well, now you have a friend" Stephanie said brightly "Do you have a phone?"

Lera shook her head no, why would she? The com she used with the DEO was all she needed to keep in contact.

Steph once more offered her a sympathetic smile "Ok, then" she rambled through her purse looking for a pen "give me your hand"

Lera stretched it confused until the girl wrote down her number "Wha-what I'm I supposed to do with it?"

"Call me" Stephanie answered coolly "whenever you want to hang out, grab a bite to eat or something, we can arrange a plan"

Lera's eyes sparkled "Really?"

"Yeah. Well, preferably on the weekend, but whenever you feel like it"

"Thanks"

"No problem" she waved her hand "See you around"

"Sure!" she waved back as they left to go to the movies.

Lera gazed into her palm to see the numbers she quickly memorized.

And then she found something she was missing, she had a friend. She hadn't realized there was a loneliness Stephanie seemed to have filled.  
________________________________________

Lena thought she would never admit she had seen the whole thing and for some reason she didn't like how the other teens could make her daughter look so out of place and awkward, when Lera was meant to stand out.

…and she knew what it bothered her so much.

After having to adjourn her meeting with Mr. Wayne, they both retrieved to the DEO where Kara was talking to Alex.

"Are you sure?" Kara asked for probably the fourth time judging by Alex's already exasperated expression.

"Yes!" Alex raised both her arms to the sides "We can handle! And as long as we can reach out to you, there is no reason to keep worrying"

"Is this a bad time?" Lena asked when she found a brief moment of silence between the two.

"Lena!" Kara jolted

"Lera!" Alex spoon around.

"Is…everything alright?" Lera asked cautiously.

"Of course" both Danvers said simultaneously.

"Right, because perfect synchrony is never a sign of some scheming" Lena folded her arms neatly before herself.

They exchanged looks "Is nothing bad, I can assure you that" Alex said.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"It should" Kara smiled brightly, in a way she hadn't in days.

"Alright then" Lena smirked back.

"So, how was your meeting?" Kara asked

"Didn't come to happen" she answered "maybe he thought through his investment" she said coolly, but Kara's fist clenched.

If the prejudicial newsletter wasn't to blame for this, then Kara didn't know why someone wouldn't invest in L-Corp. People even knew the company had develop the anti gravity boots the new hero used to fly. There was an L next to the S the girl wore on her uniform. L-Corp was finally getting good press and recognition and now it was all crumbling down.

Lena noticed the tension on the kryptonian's face, so she tried to diverse her attention to something else.

"Never mind that, I have something else on my plate"

"Threats?" Alex inquired.

"No" she said, her tone was at the verge of annoyance. For a second, she wanted to feel like anybody else would and not having to worry about life and death all the time "I think Lera should go to school"

"What?" they all asked confused.

"But-! Mom, I already have a vast knowledge and you teach me so much at L-Corp"

"Yeah, plus, she has all the skills she needs in her life" Alex added.

"Maybe for a professional life, but she lacks social skills"

"Come again?" Supergirl frowned.

"Kara, she's our DNA combined. My only two friends in National City were Kara Danvers and Supergirl and since you are both, my count goes back to one"

"Wow, that sounded really depressing, Lena" the hero said.

"And you just helped me prove my point"

Alex snorted "In all fairness, you weren't exactly popular in school, Kara"

"Hey, I was a powered-up teen trying to fit into an unknown environment"

Lena raised a brow and gazed at their clone for Kara to realize.

"Oh Rao, you have to go to school" she said in utter despair and disbelief.

"What?!" Lera complained "But mom, I can't. I need to be able to help save the day, school would get in the way"

"You need to be more than just a hero" Kara said softly "I'm not a reporter for the paycheck. It's something that helps me fulfil myself. I need that as much as I need to fly"

"Don't you want to have friends?" Lena asked gently "I saw you today, you looked rather happy when that girl gave you her number"

"Was she cute?" Alex asked teasingly.

"Hey, hold on, who-what girl?" Kara interjected.

Lera fidgeted a little before extending her hand with the number scribbled in it.

"Her name is Stephanie, she talked to me, told me we could hang out sometime" she phrased it as the other girl had "she was very polite"

"See? You have been balancing your life these past months between being a public figure for the Luthor's name and for the Super's. We haven't even given you a chance to try and be yourself" Lena tucked one stray hair behind her ear.

Lera sighed unsure "I…I don't know, mom. What if…? I'm not going to fit in" she finally said.

"Not fitting in is what we are both best at" Lena said referring to Kara and herself "And look what we have achieved" she smiled reassuringly "we just want to give you something we lacked"

"But, why?" she shrugged "I mean, you turned out fine, so I should too"

"You are missing my point, sweetie" Lena had to barely lean to be at her same height "And I think you are doing so on purpose" she caressed her cheek "It scared me too" she mumbled "but great things can come out of it" she smirked cunningly "I met Kara, didn't I?"

Lera allowed a small laugh to scape her lips. She wanted to retort, maybe throw in a bit of statistics to put into comparison their situations, but she decided against it. Instead she offered a sincere smile and tilted her head "I'll think about it"

That was progress.

"Ok, then. You can think it over our little trip" Kara smiled widely.

"What?" Lena asked.

"Oh, nothing special. Just that little get away I was talking you about. I think I finally managed it" she stepped closer, excitement written all over her face.

"Then…where are we going?" Lena asked cautiously.

"Trust me, you would have to see it to believe it" Alex cut in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those characters might or might not be who you think they are...


	5. Chapter 5

"Then…where are we going?" Lena asked cautiously.

"Trust me, you would have to see it to believe it" Alex cut in.  
_________________________________

"So, the number is on the fridge" Kara said to Alex as she for the last time ran through her list of things to prepare before leaving.

"J'onn and I will handle everything in your absence" Alex assured.

Lena walked inside the flat alongside Lera "We're here"

"Just in time" Kara glowed.

"Will you tell us now where are we going? If not for my sake then for my secretariat's. She's been crazy about this" Lena said.

"Not yet!" she jumped up with excitement. She had been secretive lately, in a kind of cute way actually. Like all those times Kara would walk around Lena's office trying to pretend she was an ordinary human in an attempt that Lena wouldn't find out she was Supergirl.

"Are you coming, Aunt Alex?" Lera asked.

"Not this time, kiddo" she answered "Someone has to take care of things here" she messed her hair up "I'll miss you, though" she hugged her goodbye.

"I think we are ready" Kara took her luggage "my friend will be expecting us any minute now"

"Any minute? Then I guess it will be a short distance trip, or we will run fashionably late"

Kara couldn't control her enthusiasm any longer "You chose just the right words, but you are wrong in both cases. We are going to be just in time" she took a little device and suddenly a whitish-blue sparkle appeared in the room and a drift in time and space was made.  
___________________________________

"Come on! She's going to be here soon!" a blur of red dashed through the room cleaning it up.

"Slow down! She hasn't arrived yet"

"I know" he paced impatiently "she said she had news"

"Well, she's bringing some people over, so maybe more aliens"

"That would be so awesome!" he beamed.

"You, Barry Allen, are such a case" Iris West leaned in to kiss him.

Suddenly a flash of light blinded them and three figures stepped in.

As soon as both heroes locked eyes, they ran into each other's arms for a mutual hug.

"Kara!"

"Barry!"

"It's so good to see you again!"

"You too!" she let go before noticing his companion "Iris!"

"Hey, Kara!" she embraced her as well "It's been so long, I haven't heard from you since my wedding"

"Well, technically I didn't saw you getting married"

"Oh, we married…like 30 seconds after you left with Alex"

"Hey! Couldn't you have speed it up for me to see?"

"Well, Oliver got married too, double wedding" Iris chuckled.

"You guys are the worst! I missed two weddings by mere 30 seconds"

They all laughed and after all the commotion, Kara remembered to look over her shoulder and a sudden blush spread through her cheeks.

"Sorry!" she walked back "I forgot to introduce you" she admitted shyly "Um, Barry, Iris, this is Lena and Lera"

"Hi" they all went and greet each other.

"Thank you for having us, Mr. Allen" Lena said.

"Hey, any friend of Kara's is a friend of ours" he smiled cheerfully.

"Please, come in, get settled" Iris invited them over allowing the two heroes to have a brief chance to catch up.

"How have you been?" Barry asked.

"You know, fighting my nemesis"

"Been there"

"Overcoming some challenges, including a bit of family issues"

"Done that"

"Raising my daughter with the sister of my cousin's worst enemy"

And then Barry chocked of out nothing "You-your daughter?!" he looked at both guests.

"Yeah, things have been crazy, Barry"

"…Can I ask how you have a teen daughter? Is that like…an alien thing?"

Kara laughed good naturedly "She's our clone. Lena's mom engineered her as a weapon to destroy me. Now…I'm doing my best to be her mother"

Barry noticed that dreamy smile on her face and those sparkly eyes, he couldn't help but chuckle gently "Well, I'm glad you are handling it so well"

"You wouldn't have thought so half a year ago" she admitted sheepishly "But…I do love her"

Barry wrapped an arm around her "The way I see it, those are great news, Kara"

She grinned "Well, enough about me, you have to tell me about your married life so far"

Both giggled as they went to their respective families.

"Sorry, I'm just wrapping my head around the idea of a multiverse" Lena said fascinated "You mean to tell me here there's no Supergirl, no Cat Grant, no L-Corp?"

"None of those things ring a bell" Iris shook her head "And you don't have a Star Industries or a Flash"

"Not one" Lena affirmed "This is so bizarre" she smiled widely "So, the Luthor's bad name doesn't exist in here"

Kara approached her with a shy smile "I told you I could bring you to a place where you didn't have to be a Luthor and I didn't need to be a Super"

Lena tenderly looked her way. Kara literally jumped them between dimensions just to make her one wish true "This is perfect"

Kara's face lit up, not a trace of all the worries that had haunt her was visible now "I'm glad" she said humbly.

Lena squeezed her hand in gratitude. There was much more she wanted to say, but she couldn't find the words to express it "Thank you"

"Wait!" Barry interrupted, an idea crossing his mind "So, Lera, you are half kryptoinian, right?"

"Yes?" the teen answered cautiously, not knowing why that grown man seemed to be acting like an excited kid.

"So, you have Kara's powers?!" he finally asked.

"Some of them"

"She's fast" Kara chanted "Like, really, really fast, Barry"

And in the blink of an eye, the scarlet speedster was now standing in full uniform "Let's see just how fast"  
_____________________________________________

Barry dashed from one side of the deserted highway to the other in mere seconds. Kara was chasing close by and Lera was a bit of distant third place.

"Again!" she challenged the two older heroes. Both chuckled.

"You have stamina, I'll give you that" Barry took off his mask "You are really fast"

"For half a Kryptonian?"

"Or for a half human" he shrugged "you should race against Wally, he will love that!"

"Who's that?"

"My brother in law, he's also a speedster, he's close to your age, you'll hit it off right away" he assured.

Meanwhile, Lena and Iris watched them race for the twentieth time while they awaited sited by a table under a parasol.

"Watch them go" Iris laughed

"I can't believe how they all look like kids right now"

"At least yours actually is a kid" Iris refuted with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad they are having such a great time. Being here is truly wonderful" she watched Kara styling Lera's hair into a ponytail "I haven't seen Kara that relaxed in a long while. Being Supergirl is very important to her, but sometimes, being just a regular person is what she really needs"

Iris sighed looking at her husband "I know what you mean" she then turned to look at her "So, how did you get to know Supergirl?" she asked.

"Oh, well. The Luthors and the Supers aren't exactly allies in our earth. But we decided to work together. I wanted to help and she believed in me. I mean, Supergirl is the National City's savior, but Kara Danvers…she's my hero" she took her glass of lemonade.

"You know…I said almost exactly that about Barry" Iris mentioned "In my wedding vows" she added slyly.

Lena was that close to spilling her drink, but caught herself coughing briefly before offering a flushed smile "how uncanny" she said.

Iris chuckled but nothing else was said before the three superpowered beings arrived.

"That was fun!" Barry said pouring lemonade for all of them.

"Can we do this again tomorrow?" Lera asked sitting next to Lena.

"Sure!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Thanks Barry, this was great" Kara smiled at her friend.

"Hey, anything for you guys" he raised his glass.

It was good to be with friends that could also be called family.


	6. Chapter 6

Back in the apartment, four boxes of pizza were already gone as the Flash and Supergirl devoured while playing some of Barry's old videogames.

"I swear, Kara. If I lose again I will reset the time line"

"Don't be such a sore loser" she leaned with her shoulder.

"Go mom!" Lera cheered as Kara claimed victory once more.

"Come on!" Barry whined.

"Ok, that's enough defeats for you" Iris took his controller away "Should we call it a night?" she asked the guests.

"Sorry, I got so carried away, are you tired, Lena?" Kara asked concerned.

"Not from the trip, but work back home has been exhausting, a little rest could do me some good"

"Do we really have to go to sleep now?" Lera asked a bit dissapointed.

"We can do some more fun stuff tomorrow, promise" Barry said.

"Alright, then. We have the guest room over there and-"

"I'll take the couch" Kara jumped to say.

Barry and Iris exchanged confused looks for an instant but didn't say a thing.

"Cool, I'll bring you some covers and a pillow" he dashed away.

"Thanks Barry!"

"In that case, this way" Iris drove the Luthors to the other room.

"Night, mom" Lera hugged her Super donor first and followed the hostess.

Lena looked over her shoulder and tried to figure out if she should hug her as well or not. She finally just waved a hand and disappeared as well.

"Here you go" Barry came back with the blanket "it took me longer than I thought, I wasn't sure where I had put the extra covers"

"Sorry to impose in your house" she said a bit sheepishly.

"No, not at all, we were expecting you and all, I just assumed…well, never mind that" he settled the things down "Well, you've never been overnight at this dimension, not for sleeping anyways, the vibration of the earth might be a bit too different from yours, if you get nauseous or disorientated, let me know"

"I'll be just fine, Barry. Thank you for everything"

"Anytime, Supergirl" he chuckled "Good night, Kara"

"Night" she rested against the couch and while all the lights went off she thought she would doze off in an instant, but that didn't come to happen. Of course, she was tired and not having to be aware of her environment or waiting for a call to go save the day was supposed to be relaxing, but she found herself starring at the ceiling for almost two hours.

She sighed and slouched in the couch.

"I see I'm not the only one awake" she heard a whisper coming from behind.

She turned around to find Lena in a summerly night robe. Her hair loose over her shoulders and her arms neatly folded before her.

"Lena, what are you doing up?" she asked quietly as the other woman approached.

"I couldn't sleep. I can't say why, but I tossed and turned, I couldn't settle. So, I decided to get up, against my better judgment"

"Barry warned me the frequency of this earth might upset us a little, is Lera having a hard time too?"

"No, she was fast asleep" she admitted with relief "But I guess it did affect you too"

"Yeah, a bit" she sat up allowing Lena to take a seat next to her "It looks like our earth, it sounds like it but it doesn't quite feel like home" she said in a whisper.

"Well, I've heard that home is not a physical place but rather the people you are with. I ought to believe that"

"Even after all the things Lex and Lillian did?"

"I didn't meant home by them" Lena left the rest unsaid.

Kara felt like facepalming herself to cover the hot embarrassment that ran though her. Lena meant her and Lera. And she didn't know what to say next.

Lena noticed how the shift in the conversation put the Kryptonian at odds, so she swiftly redirected their chat "Barry seems like a great guy"

"Yeah, he's the best" she agreed "he helped me out and then I repaid the favor and…well, it's awesome to have him. We share so much in common, we've been through some stuff together and being from different dimensions sure helps that we don't have to keep any secrets" she regretted saying the last part as it left her lips "I-I mean, our hero identities weren't compromised at each other's earths. That's why it was so simple" she hunched forward trying to justify her decisions, as to why she didn't reveal her identity for so long.

Lena knew just how much more there was under those words "It's ok, we both have to sort some things out before moving forward" Lena tried to offer a smile. She had invested all her feelings in what they have built, even if unwillingly.

The heroine awkwardly fidgeted with her hands debating her conflictive thoughts "After…I was left without a planet…it took me a while to really feel like belonging somewhere else, until Alex and all the Danvers welcomed me, took me in and reminded me just how… warm and reassured you can feel when you have someone to lean on. How nurturing that is" she barely gazed at her side to see Lena fully listening to her "I also feel that way with you and Lera"

Kara could hear the excited heartbeat of the Luthor, she could have sworn she felt the vibration of it by the way it jumped in her chest.

Lena looked away smiling to herself "Thank you" she mumbled a whisper.

Kara found herself grinning as well. For once, she wasn't fostered by someone else but rather willingly building her own home. Forming her very own family.

"Well, anyways, I think I better go back to the room" Lena hid a yawn "see if I can find a suitable position or convince myself to give into sleep" she stood up walking past her, but she felt a tug at the sleeve of her robe.

"W-wait" Kara asked with little voice "I'm known to give great hugs" she offered. Lena recognized those words from months prior, when she was broken and Kara was there to pick up the pieces "If…you can't sleep, maybe I could help… if neither of us really feels like home maybe being with each other could make us at least feel welcome. Home can be people, right?" she offered a bit timidly, like her civilian alter ego would. She sometimes forgot she was invincible when she was with Lena. The CEO could be her strength and her Kryptonite all at the same time.

Lena crooked her head to a side "As I recall, I did sleep quite peacefully when you last hugged me"

"That's my Danvers' power" she shrugged her shoulders.

Lena smirked at the sight of the heroine being so open and vulnerable at the same time "Ok, I'll give in, just for a couple of minutes" she kicked her feet up the couch to slowly settle against Kara. Fitting her body into her arms and resting her head over her chest "It's rather odd to know you don't wear the suit under" she mused out loud.

"Disappointed?" Kara half chuckled.

She shook her head no "Reassured"

"Really?" the Super asked taken aback "How so?"

"At least for now, I know you won't fly away into danger. It's good to have you save and sound for a change"

Kara silently chuckled "Well, I'm not going anywhere" she wrapped her arms around her, resting her lips on top of her head's crown "I'm staying right here by your side"

"I like that" Lena admitted, her eyelids falling down as she was drifting into sleep.

"Comfy?" the blonde asked stroking dark hair all the way to her back.

"Very" she mumbled sighing soundlessly "Kara?"

"Hm?" she hummed back.

"Thank you for everything"

Kara held her a bit tighter "Welcome"

And both were now more asleep than awake. The last thing that was heard in that room was a faint 'love you', and then darkness took over under a half moon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 4th of July, here's another chapter ;)

The sun rose through the horizon as it would back on their earth. Lena took a deep breath in feeling more relaxed than she had in previous nights. The scent of something sweet and the tingling on her nose, reminded her that she was still laying on top of Kara Danvers, as her curly blond hair tickled her face. Although that was unusual it was not a foreign feeling, but the idea of being so weightless and not to be able to touch the couch was without a doubt bizarre. She lazily opened her eyes to find herself at the same level as the ceiling lamp.

She dared to look down to find they were levitating several feet upon the couch and out of pure reflexes, she held tighter in shock. The sudden movement woke the floating Kryptonian that lost all balance and crashed back into the sofa with a muffled thud sound.

They of course bounced off the furniture and ended in the ground tangled in the blankets together.

Kara looked down to find Lena under her weight, as the heroine had instinctively laid a hand under her head so Lena wouldn't hit the ground "Are you alright?"

"I am" she assured looking up at her worried eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't know I still sleep-floated" she admitted flushed.

"It's ok, Kara, really, it just took me by surprise"

"Hold still" she pushed herself apart as far as the blankets allowed to have a thorough inspection with her x-ray vision. Her eyes traveled every inch of her body until they ultimately settled on Lena's emerald eyes "You are fine"

"Thanks" Lena smirked playfully making the Kryptonian look away in embarrassment.

"You know what I meant" she grumbled under her breath.

Lena couldn't help but laugh good naturedly "So?"

"What?" Kara asked aback.

"Can I get up now?"

Kara noticed how she was still imposing and hurriedly tried to untangle herself "Sorry!" she helped her up as well.

"I didn't know you had sleeping habits" Lena said teasingly.

"Not since I turned 21, it won't happen again, promise"

"Really? I was hoping we could see that more often, Cisco would have recorded it" a third voice came from behind as Barry and Iris were pouring coffee, both still in their pajamas.

"Barry!" Kara turned around blushed "How long have you been-?"

"We've been up for a while now, but didn't want to cut your sleep short. Specially not knowing how you would react if her woke you in a jolt. I guess I have my answer"

Kara blushed even harder "You could have caught us! You are fast enough"

"I figured you would be used to crash-landing into the sofa, being Supergirl and all" he joked taking another sip of his coffee.

"You're the worst, Blur"

"Ouch, only that reporter lady can call me Blur" he extended a mug "By the way your daughter got up about three hours ago"

"What? Where's she?"

"Don't worry, we took a quick run to Star Labs. She's in good hands"  
________________________________

Wally West dashed to the control center barely managing to hit the brakes "How fast was I?"

"6.14 seconds" Cisco said.

"I guess I got you beat" he told Lera in a mocking matter.

"Hey, I'm half human! So, you should cut my time by half, if I were a full kryptonian I would have won"

"She got you there" Cisco said.

"Sorry, but rules are rules" he smiled good naturally folding his arms.

"You want to arm wrestle?" she challenged teasingly.

"No, he doesn't, his healing powers aren't that great" Barry said walking into the facility with the rest of the group.

"You are here!" Lera smiled excitedly rushing towards them, hugging both woman "Mom, you have to see their computer system, it's truly amazing" she told Lena.

"Is it?"

"Well you have to see the rest of the base" Wally said "Race you to it" he challenged.

Lera's eyes sparkled "Can I?"

"Go" both parents agreed "we can catch up later"

"Thanks" she dashed off.

"Hey wait!" Wally chased after.

"I haven't seen anyone as excited by our updates as her" Caitlin mentioned leaving her chart at a side.

"Hey, long time no see" Kara greeted the team behind Barry's successful hero career.

"Kara! It's great to see you again; we already got a chance to get to know your daughter" Cisco said enthusiastically.

"I hope she behaved"

"We all broke something in our first day here"

"Wait, she broke something?"

"Anyways!" Cisco said trying to find a change of subject.

"Thanks for taking such great care of her in our absence" Barry said sarcastically.

Kara smirked "Well, I'm glad you met Lera, but I would like to introduce you to Lena. She's the other half of what makes Lera so exceptional"

Lena smiled fondly at her before turning to the team "A pleasure" the Luthor walked forward.

"Oh, so you must be the human DNA donor" Caitlin said stretching her hand.

"Yeah, she's the brain, I'm the muscle" Kara said jokingly.

"Yes, I'm her human mother"

"That is so cool" Cisco said amazed "I mean, not the part of your evil mother harvesting your DNA without your consent to try and fabricate a living weapon to take down Kara" he said in a rush noticing how he was making it worse "I mean, how great Lera turned out to be despite…everything"

"Why thank you, it sure has been a journey" Lena said politely.

"Yes, thanks for the right on point summery" said Iris in a bit of a scolding matter.

Caitlin cleared her throat "So, Lena? Lera told us you run a mayor technology industry in you earth, she even sketched us the blue prints of her suit and her boots, I'm truly intrigued by the source of power you use to fuel them"

"I'll be glad to exchange some notes" she said eagerly.

"Great!"

In a blink, two blurs rushed back in.

"Mom!"

"Barry!" they said simultaneously.

"We have to do a relay race"  
_____________________________

Barry put on his mask "You know we are doing this just for fun" he told Kara as they stretched.

"Yes, for the kids"

"Right" he got into position "So no hard feelings when we win"

"Funny, I was going to say the same"

"On your marks!" shouted Cisco

"Looser buys burgers?" Barry asked

"Equivalent to all the calories we burn throughout the race" Kara added.

"Get set!" he raised the flag.

"Deal! I do hope L-Corp has enough funds, because you are going to need to ask Lena for a loan" Barry said.

"If I ask my boss for a raise it won't be to pay up for a bet, we have on the bag"

"Wait, she's your boss?" Barry asked shocked.

"Go!"

Kara sprinted noticing the awestruck Flash took a second to recover before running too, an upper hand the other team was going to take.

"Come on, run Barry, run!" Wally shouted.

"I'm ready mom!"

Kara made it to Lera passing her the baton giving her a head start on Wally. She knew it was unlikely they could win, after all, the two opposite heroes were specialized in running, unlike them. And of course, Lera only had half the skills set of a Kryptonian, having her wits to compensate for it, so when Wally caught up to her, she wasn't completely surprised. When she managed to keep up with him however, she was shocked.

Lera had never sprinted as fast as she was right now. She barely felt like her feet were touching the ground. It was like her footsteps were light and swift. She started to take longer steps, leaping from time to time until she ultimately decided to take higher jumps, keeping her feet off the ground. She leaned her whole body forwards feeling weightless. She was so caught up in the spell that when she lost altitude, she completely overlooked the speed she was going at. By the time she tried for her feet to start running again over the surface it was too late. She stumbled to the ground starting to roll in the sand for several yards before getting to a full stop.

It took mere seconds for the rest of the heroes to get to here, none had been able to aid her, since no one figured she would need saving.

Kara knelt next to her, but Lera was already getting up on her own, an inexplicable smile on her face "Did you see that? That's the longest I´ve been in the air without my tech!"

"I must have seen a different thing, I saw my daughter crash-landing into the hard ground" she coped her cheeks checking her bone structure in a blink "No broken bones" she said relieved.

"Are you alright?" Wally asked concerned, feeling guilty of the outcome of their competitiveness.

"Yes" she assured.

"You are bleeding" Barry said alarmed. Her arms had multiple scratches in them.

"I managed to protect my head, so I don't sustain any traumatic lesions" she said naturally.

"I won't gamble it" Kara said firmly taking her into her arms.

"Caitlin can run a full diagnose" Barry offered.

"We'll meet you there" she nodded before taking off with her daughter in arms.  
_______________________________________________________________

"So you don't use the core as a primal source?" Caitlin asked Lena.

"No, that risks overheating the system and a potential explosion"

"So how do you harvest enough-?"

The door slammed open while all the heroes appeared in a hectic manner.

"What's going on?" Caitlin asked.

"Lera had an accident" Barry explained shortly.

"What?!" Lena rushed to Kara's arms to check upon her daughter "How did this happen?"

"I flew!" Lera said enthusiastically.

"She leaped so high while running that when she got back down, she couldn't match the speed and stumbled" Kara said laying her on the medical bay.

"No, I genuinely flew" Lera explained "I could feel it Mom!" she looked at Lena excitedly.

"Sweetie, you know you can't fly" Lena countered a bit sadly caressing her wounded cheek "My DNA is too present in your genetic for you to have that ability"

"But-"

"If I try to stick a needle into her skin will it bend?" Caitlin interrupted.

"No, her skin is not indestructible, we confirmed that when the DEO shot her"

"They what?" Barry interrupted.

"Long story" Kara waved her hand dismissively

"Ok, so little pinch now" Cat proceeded with the IV "It all looks very subcutaneous, so it mostly will be jus cleaning up the scratches and tending swollen bruises"

"Thank you" both parents said more at ease.

"I'll go for some supplies" Caitlin said "Lena, could you come with so you can tell me your allergies?"

"Sure" she gazed quickly at Kara who nodded with a faint smile.

"Ok, so you fell from how high and you didn't break a bone?" Cisco asked intrigued.

"If I had have my suit on I wouldn't even have felt it, I once fell from the top of a building" Lera commented getting Cisco hooked up on hero stories while Barry pulled Kara apart for a moment.

"I'm sorry" the speedster said "I should have caught her, I saw her losing altitude and it didn't-"

"It's ok" Kara assured squeezing his shoulder "I should have been able to do it too, it caught us off guard" she then looked at her daughter over her shoulder "Plus, we are used to the hero life, falling is part of learning to get up, I guess. We've had a lot of little mishaps while adjusting to being a team" she sighed.

Barry noticed the conflict in her eyes and drove her to the next room "What's wrong?" he folded his arms giving her his full attention.

"It's…complicated, Barry" She mumbled making sure Lera was distracted enough not to hear their conversation "sometimes…I…wish she wouldn't put on the suit" she admitted "I trust her, I really do and I understand her motivation, she has my and Lena's drive to help people but sometimes…I just worry this might get her worse than just at a medical bay" she chuckled ironically to herself "A couple of weeks ago Lena told me she felt helpless looking at Lera and I get out to defend the city since she couldn't be there to take the shots or protect her like I did since I have powers… but today wasn't even a mission and I couldn't…" she covered her face.

Barry looked at her empathetically and drove her in for a quick hug "its ok, Kara" he said "I can tell you stories from Wally on his first missions, but it's different for you. That's your kid, you worry, that's what parents do, isn't it?" he mumbled into her hair "You are just going through it abruptly, but come on, you are Supergirl!" he cheered releasing her from the embrace "You can take on anything, right? Plus, you got Lena, she seems awesome. You are like the most lethal combination of a power couple" he chuckled.

Kara smiled sniffing faintly "We are a great team, a Luthor and a Super working together" she recited smiling to herself "it's great to have her to go through this, without a friend I don't know how I would have handled it. But still it's…an adjustment"

Barry frowned for a moment but decided to let it slide "I can only imagine" he tilted his head looking at the infirmary "Hey, seems like Caitlin already patched her up" he mentioned.

"I should check on her just to make sure she's fine"

"Do" he smiled going to his wife wrapping an arm around her shoulders before laying a kiss on top of Iris' head.

"How are you feeling?" Kara stood next to the bed.

"Honestly, I'm fine" Lera insisted "I've gotten in far worst landings"

"Not sure you should say that so proudly, sweetie" Lena teased gently.

Lera resumed to rolling her eyes, knowing that arguing back would be futile "Can I be discharged?"

"Sure" Caitlin said "there were just minor scratches; your kryptonian genes must have kicked in because you are basically unharmed"

"That's a relief" Lena sighed mentally registering to herself that her share of the DNA was keeping Lera from doing far more with her potential, even if Kara didn't saw it that way.

Suddenly an alarm went off alerting everyone.

"We've got an attack outside city limits" Cisco informed going to check the signal "you better run"

"You need backup?" Supergirl asked getting ready, but with a swift glance Barry could see Lena's worry concealed behind her steady eyes.

"It's fine" he said in a calmed and friendly tone "You came here to take a break from the hero business. Take the day, if there's trouble that we can't handle then we call in the big guns, sounds good?"

Kara was a bit aback but smiled back good naturally "It's your city, do the honors"

"Ok, be back in a flash" Wally and Barry dashed away.

Iris huffed as she picked up the papers that flew around after their grand exit "They are probably going to be gone for a couple of hours" she said "so we are left to our own devices"

"That's fine, we should take it easy while Lera recovers"

"Mom, really-"

"How about you two go out and paint the town?" Iris suggested cutting in "We can keep Lera some company. Go get some food, like an ice cream or something while you are out. If there's any situation, we'll give you a call"

"Oh" Kara gazed at Lena waiting for her reaction "I mean…no one knows who we are here…"

The Luthor smirked back "That does sounds good"


	8. Chapter 8

"Thanks" Lera dug her spoon on the ice cream bottle.

"Welcome" Iris smiled sitting in front of her "are your scars bothering you?"

"No. I really am fine" she emphasized "But mom keeps worrying so much" Lera grumbled.

"Lena cares, that's all" Iris offered.

"I know…" Lera averted gazes "it's just…" she pressed her lips together unable to say anything.

Iris got a scoop from her own dessert trying to offer another topic "Hey, do you like movies? Because no matter the amount of information you have stored up there, we have a whole filmography you can't possibly have seen, how does that sound? We've got musicals"

Lera giggled knowing Iris was making an effort "Sure"  
_______________________________________________

"This is nice" Kara mentioned looking up at the urban scenery "I don't recognize anything, it's kind of exciting"

"It really is" Lena agreed taking a sip of her coffee "It's almost hard to believe a different dimension exists, I knew the theories, but actually being here it's simply beyond my wildest dreams"

"Please, if you have really tried you would have found a way to make the dimensional jump on your lab" Kara retorted making the CEO smile.

"I guess the only downside is if we get lost"

Kara intertwined their arms together "Then let's just make sure we don't get separated, as long as we are together we can face anything" Lena gazed deep into her eyes, so Kara cleared her throat "I mean we have saved our earth dozens of times, right?"

Lena looked down "Right" she sneaked another glance at her staring fondly.

Kara could feel the intensity of her eyes taking in every detail "What?" the Kryptionian finally asked "Do I have chocolate on my face?"

Lena averted her eyes giggling shyly "No, I'm sorry, I'm just not used to what's missing in your face"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…you aren't wearing your glasses while we are in public and you are not hiding your uniform under. I think it's the first time I've been with you without being just Supergirl or Kara Danvers"

The blonde smiled genuinely "Zor-El" she offered.

"What?"

"My real name? My Kryptonian given name, that's who I am right now, just…Kara Zor-El"

Lena beamed looking at her with soft eyes "Kara Zor-El" she repeated "I like that, being with you, the core of who you are"

Kara blushed embarrassed giving her signature cheeky smile "I like being myself, my true self around you" they walked past a man that promptly stopped dead on his tracks looking back at them only to see their backs.

"I-Is that you?" he called, his voice oddly shaky.

Lena and Kara were smiling to one another enjoying the fact that no one could really recognize them there.

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong person" Lena began to say while turning around just to feel all the air being knocked out of her guts by the face that greeted her with equal shock.

"Lana?" the man said moving curly dark hairs out of his face.

"Lex?" she whispered walking cautiously towards him as if seeing a ghost.

"Lena" Kara grabbed her elbow "maybe we should go"

"Lena?" the man repeated confused.

"A-are you Lex?" Lena's voice quivered a little

"N-no, Alex. Alexander Luther" he raised his arm trying to reach for her but retracted "It can't be…" he took another step, but Kara stood between them.

"I'm sorry, you have the wrong people" the Super said gravely.

The man looked at Kara for a brief moment deciding to take a step back "I'm…I'm sorry" he retracted unable to resist stealing another glance at Lena "You are not her" he said "You are not my Lana, but you are who I think you are, aren't you? Just not from around"

Both women exchanged looks.

"Do you know a place where we could talk?" the Luthor asked.  
____________________________________

Alexander nervously made circles with the spoon on his coffee "After my mother's passing, Lana was the only family I had left" he began "When they diagnosed her my world started to crumble, seven months ago she was buried next to mom, they were so close I'm sure she would have like it"

Lena stared at him in disbelief, she knew he was telling the truth, she could read him that easily, but it all felt so surreal.

"Lana always talked about the chance-the-the possibility that there were parallel expressions of ourselves, sharing one same space but vibrating at different frequencies…" he looked up meeting emerald eyes that made him uneasy as he was in front of the ghostly memory that haunt him "I can't believe she was right. If she had have more time maybe she would had cracked the way to jump between them"

Lena kept quiet taking the information in, in this reality the Luthor name didn't exist, Lex and Lena were close, her mother was loving, they were simple people living a simple live, they were…happy.

"So, what happened to your brother?" he dared to inquire.

"You were-I mean, he was my best friend too but…he got obsessed and eventually became a psychopath, he's in jail now. He left me alone to pick up the pieces. Our father died long ago, mother has done…some unforgivable things" Lena clenched her fists under the table. Kara knew just what she meant, so she grabbed her hand to give her support. In a twisted way, Lillian had given them the greatest gift ever but through some of the most painful experience they have ever had. Lera.

"So you are alone too" Alexander said "It seems like a pattern that haunts us no matter the reality" he said bitterly looking down.

"I'm…I'm not alone" Lena said offering a sweet cautious smile "I…I have a daughter" she shared in a whisper "And in so many other conditions it would have meant the world to me to share that news to you- to him" she corrected.

His face lit up "You are a mom?" he smiled "I'm an uncle?" he shut his eyes realizing the mistake "Well, a version of me got to be an uncle"

"Yeah" Lena smiled kindly "she's a smart, strong and fearless girl. For the first time in a long while, she made me feel proud of being a Luthor"

Kara smiled wrapping an arm around her shoulders leaning in as they used to on L-Corp's couch.

Alex smiled widely "I'm really glad" he looked at Kara "maybe you aren't so alone after all"

Lena looked at Kara heartedly making the krptonian fuzzy with a warm feeling "Maybe I'm not" she agreed "…what about you, what are you going to do?"

He sighed in a wistful way "Well, I've grown tired of the city. I'm going to give the country side a try, a man and his wife offered to show me the ropes, they are great folks, no kids. I want to be still, stop running around and just enjoy the sunset. Plus, Martha makes the greatest apple pies ever" he added "I'm alone, I just don't want to be lonely"

Lena nodded in understanding. When she moved to National City, she did so to scape her past, he was about to do the same "I hope you find happiness" she said earnestly, heartedly, she meant those words because she had been wishing to tell her own brother them, but could never truly reach out for him, for his sanity, for Lex to fully understand how much she meant them.

His doppelganger smiled "And I hope you can live fully and plenty" he said equally solemnly.

After bidding odd farewells when the sun was touching down at the horizon both Luther and Luthor stared awkwardly trying to figure out how to let go of an illusion yet for a second time.

"Is it…is it alright if I hug you?" Alexander asked carefully "I didn't have the chance to properly say goodbye before"

"Neither did I" Lena responded extending her arms and allowing herself to be held by the living image of her brother, the 'what if' version of him, one in which he got to keep his sanity, but not his sister.

After resting in the embrace, in the strangest feeling of familiar and yet foreign comfort, they parted their separate ways.  
________________________________________

Kara hid her hands inside her coat's pockets, the wind picking up "That was…weird" she trailed off "Are you alright? I swear, I checked thoroughly so there wasn't another Lena or a Luthor name"

"And there weren't" Lena said "The Luthor's bad name is nonexistent and their version of Lena isn't here"

"Somehow I think it makes it just as bad" Kara gazed down.

"What are you talking about?" she stopped on her tracks making Kara take a couple of steps back and face her.

"I…I didn't wanted you to go through family trauma again and…I mean, knowing that in some other dimension you died…" she hanged her head low "I'm sorry"

Lena shook her head gently, a careful smile filling her lips "Don't apologize" she said softly "I guess you don't see it but…this was…this was one of the greatest gifts I could have asked for" she admitted "In some sort of way, I got what I always longed for, even if just for a couple of hours, I got my brother back, the best version of him. I could talk to him about my life and hear his; I saw the future I wished for him, one where he could see beyond and have options. Yes, maybe so we are both alone regarding the members of our nuclear family, but he's going to be alright and…so am I"

Kara listened at her hopefully smiling pleasantly "I'm glad" they continue to walk in the mostly deserted streets, a comfortable silence filling in.

It was a beautiful night, not a cloud in the night sky and some unknown constellations spotting the darkness in a splattered manner.

"I should have told Lera to bring her telescope" Kara commented to the air "So many new stars to discover"

Lena smiled softly "The other night she caught a glimpse of a shooting star, when I told her to make a wish she didn't know what I was talking about" she mentioned "whose childhood is at fault on that?" Lena asked teasingly.

"Hey, Alex waited until my 18th birthday to tell me I should wish for something when blowing the candles, you can take the blame on this one" Both shared a chuckle out of it "some weeks ago Lera found an old box of my childhood toys, you should have seen the way her eyes lighted up when she found a teddy bear, she cuddled with it for hours"

Lena's smile grew softer "I would have loved to see that" the CEO released a sigh she didn't know she was holding "I guess we miss out on a lot of her life by this arrangement" Lena mumbled "I mean, I get to see her more in the domestic environment and you are there to shape her into a fine hero but…it's becoming quite rare when we share a common schedule"

Kara avoided her piercing green eyes "Yeah, I guess we do…" she cleared her throat before letting another silence slip by, this time leaving many things unsaid.

"Well, it's getting pretty late, maybe we should get going back" Lena suggested.

"You are probably right" Kara gazed up at the striking night sky while an idea sparked in her mind. She grabbed Lena's wrist pulling her form the sidewalk to an empty alley.

"Kara, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking us back" she held into her waist "hold on tight!" she said excitedly taking off and soaring into the night sky.

As they rapidly got away from the ground, Lena wrapped her arms tightly against the other woman looking down in a mix of horror and excitement "Kara!"

The kryptonian laughed in return "I'm not going to drop you"

"You could at least told me to prepare" Lena buried her face into her neck limiting the distance between them to steady herself.

"You have no idea for who long I've wanted to do this" she said earnestly yet just above a whisper "and not as Supergirl, not getting you out of a troubling situation, just… a night stroll, no one to save, nowhere to be" Lena was encouraged to get out of the crook of her neck to look into her eyes as Kara said that "just us, no world to save or company to run, not a Luthor and a Super about to be photographed by the media. I wanted a stolen moment of selfishness in which I could just do this" Kara cuddled into her arms.

Lena felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, so she decided to lie against her once more easing up the tightness around her arms, instead loosely holding on as if they were dancing, just swaying through the air "...me too"  
________________________________________

By the time they were back into Star Labs, Caitlin and Cisco had gone home, same as Wally, so there were just Barry and Iris taking care of Lera.

When both women stepped in, they heard the air being filled with laughter.

"Really! I stumbled over a freaking tiny rock! That's the most wounded my ego has ever been" Barry said.

"Oh, but he hasn't told you about his senior prom" Iris chimed in making the scarlet speedster turn the same shade as his nickname while they laughed.

"Hey, guys" Kara greeted as they turned to receive them.

"You are back" Lera's smile brightened up at the sight.

"Hey! How was Star City?" Barry asked, still in hero uniform.

"It was great" she shared a knowing smile with Lena "Did you just come back from your mission?"

"About an hour ago, I didn't change because we were famish" he looked at Lera whom sheepishly smiled "we ate through 8 pizza boxes"

"I only ate three slices and I was full, I hate how all of you keep so slim after devouring like that" Iris complaint jokingly.

"Hero perks" Kara countered with a smile reaching for a cold slice.

"That's quite the appetite, sweetie" Lena landed a ghostly kiss on top of her daughter's head "you usually just eat one pizza by yourself"

"I mean, I helped to finish all the food" Barry patted his own stomach "and after using her powers she most had been running low on carbs"

Iris gazed over the table, the two empty ice cream bottles carelessly tossed aside; maybe Lera had truly burned through her storage energies to be eating that much.

"Anyways, are you ready to head home?" Barry asked.

"Sure" Kara laid a hand over Lera's shoulder taking the opportunity to discreetly check on her wounds with her x-ray vision, smiling reassured knowing she was alright "Tired?" she asked as her daughter hid a yawn.

"A little bit" she nodded leaning in into Lena's shoulder.

"Ok then" Kara reached for her cheek coping it only to notice her higher-than-usual temperature. Kara frowned at that but decided not to say anything, it was bad enough Lena had worried about that day's mishap and she was in no way burning up "are you feeling okay?"

"Just exhausted"

Kara nodded trying to convince herself nothing was out of the ordinary "let's go then"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Kara didn't dare to admit she'd sneaked into Lena's and Lera's room that night just to make sure Lera didn't have a fever and be there in case Lena couldn't sleep. She sat at the chair in the guest's room for a couple of hours before getting into the bed next to Lera when she heard her complain in her sleep. Nightmares were still frequent and bizarre for their daughter, so she was more than happy to slide into the sheets and wrap an arm around Lera cuddling her into her chest while humming quietly an old Kryptonian song.

Lera began to relax hiding under her alien mother's chin.

"It's okay, Lera" the blonde said hushed, resuming her silent singing

"Kara?" Lena's husky voice called from the other side turning over to get a better view in the darkness.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" the blonde asked remorsefully.

"I thought I heard you singing your Kryptonian lullaby"

"Yes, I was trying to ease her up"

Lena exhaled slowly getting over the heaviness of sleep "Is she having bad dreams?"

"I think she's just restless"

Lena got closer, resting over her left elbow to lift herself from the mattress to then start stroking the teen's back soothingly "Maybe this earth's frequency did get to her after all, she usually sleeps soundly when she stays with me"

"Yeah, she settles down rapidly when she gets them at my apartment too" Kara agreed "maybe with all the excitement…" Kara trailed off.

"Yeah, maybe" Lena yawned laying back down into the mattress to hug her daughter's mid waist to spoon her. Kara was right in front of Lera shielding her as well, so their daughter was in the middle of the embrace, maybe loosely aware of it, because soon enough she quieted down and finally let go of the tension.

"I think she's all better now" Lena closed her eyes ready to give into slumber again.

"I'll stay here just to make sure" Kara added determined.

"Can you… sing some more? Lera says you often do so on your apartment, but I've rarely listen to you speak in Kryptonian, it sound so soothing…"

Kara smiled genuinely even if in the dark no one could see it "Of course" she tuned herself letting soft noted slip through the silence of night.  
_________________________

Barry waked up ready to get started with his day, not even 30 second later he had put the coffee pot, set the breakfast table and picked up some flowers to place on the middle of the kitchen. Already used to his antiques, Iris followed him some minutes later, still on her robes and bed hair that she was currently fighting off.

"You, Barry Allen, have a very wrong idea of what a lazy Saturday should be" she reached for him standing on het tip toes to kiss him good morning.

Barry smirked back in his goofy and fond kind of way "I just wanted a head start today, Wally is going to be the designated hero until noon, so we can enjoy some peaceful breakfast. And yesterday I really didn't have a chance to catch up with Kara or to get to know Lena, I mean, I do think I'm getting to be Lera's new bestie, you know?"

"Anyone that can match your appetite is already your friend by default"

He chuckled "Lera is a great kid"

"She really is" Iris agreed "and she loves musical almost as much as you and Kara do" she added "careful or we might end up having them move dimensions"

Barry crooked his head "Can you imagine when it's us?"

"The one moving dimensions?" Iris asked aback chuckling.

"No…being parents" he smiled.

Iris arched a brow "Always going fast, Barry"

"Is it so wrong I'm thinking about it already?"

Iris grinned "I didn't say that, but all in due time no rush in bringing the future matters to the present"

Barry smiled "Ok" he kissed her again "for now, let's enjoy the morning show" he turned to the coach to find it empty, the sheets carelessly tossed around and no sleepy figure floating around "Wh-where's Kara?" he asked confused.

Iris looked around "Did she get up already?"

"I don't know" he looked in the other rooms "not here"

"Did she go on a mission alone?" Iris inquired trying not to get nervous.

"I don't think so, Cisco would have called me if it were the case"

"Maybe ask Lena? Kara might have told her something" Iris suggested.

"Good idea" he went to the shut guest's room knocking softly "hey, Lena?" he sneaked his head in stopping dead on his tracks.

"Barry? What is it?" Iris asked alarmed by seeing his struck face "Barry?!"

"Shh" Barry motioned quietly then making a motion with his hand for her to approach "come see this" he smiled opening the door ajar. Inside the three of them were tangled in the covers, Kara at the right end of the spare bed, her left leg hanging off the edge and her right arm serving as a pillow for Lera, whom was spread across the middle, an arm hugging Lena as her leg was laying freely over Kara's, intertwining them. Lena was the only one decently positioned on the far left facing Lera, hugging her as well while her raven hair was messily spread over her pillow, opposite to her ever tidy image.

"Don't you dare wake them up" Iris warned

"I wouldn't have the heart to do so" he chuckled quietly closing the door behind him.  
_____________________________

It was shortly after that Lena and Kara did wake up joining them for breakfast not knowing why the Allen-West family was smiling so coyly. It was until much later that Lera joined them while still looking half asleep.

"Hey sleepy head" Kara greeted "you sure slept in today"

Lera smiled sheepishly reaching for the table "I guess I was really tired"

"Feeling alright?" Lena asked taking a look at her scratches.

"I'm fine, Mom" Lera said almost pleadingly to avoid the everlasting subject of her well-being.

"Ok then, eat up. Today we are going downtown, there are some museums and parks we can visit" Barry said eagerly as the teen devoured nine pancakes.

"That sounds great!" Kara smiled brightly.

"Caitlin also mentioned there would be an Innovation Expo, we can check it out" Iris mentioned lightly not really expecting the excited reaction she got in response.

"Really?" the speedster, CEO and clone said at unison.

Iris chuckled "we are already outvoted here, Kara"

"I guess we can sacrifice a couple of hours" Kara said in mock suffering.

"Thank you!" Lera hugged her euphorically.

"We better get going in that case" Barry rushed getting dressed and packing some snacks for the day.  
___________________________

The Expo was filled with thousands of people and hundreds of new inventions, in every corner there was the 'next big thing', all prototypes promising to change the world.

"An exo-suit that can withstand even more underwater pressure than a submarine!" Barry approached it like a kid at a toy store.

"How did they make an oxygen tank that doesn't compress?" Lena asked looking at the blue prints.

"They don't use a tank; the same suit purifies the CO2 and makes it breathable again"

"So when they are underwater they harvest the oxygen generated by plankton and filter it into the suit?" Lena deduced.

"That's actually ingenious!" Barry's eyes sparkled with fascination.

"But how do they collect said oxygen?" Lera asked "how can the suit, per say, magnetize it towards itself?"

Iris and Kara shared a confused look, those were not their areas of expertise, but seeing how much they were enjoying it made it all worth it.

"So, Kara, how is everything back home?" Iris asked as they moved around the expositions.

"It's…well it's mostly fine" Kara offered looking down, Iris frowned unconvinced.

"What's wrong?" she asked cautiously "does it have to do with them?" she tilted her head and Kara's face turned into a horrified frown.

"No! No, of course not!" she calmed down noticing she was shouting, luckily her voice drowning by the noise "I mean, it has to do with them, but they would never be a problem" she explained, the phantom movement of fixing her glasses taking over just to find her hand empty at the action, she wasn't Kara Danvers here "It's…my cousin" she provided "he wasn't happy with the news of Lera, much less that she was also Lena's DNA"

"Your cousin as in…Super cousin?"

"The one" Kara exhaled folding her arms "In all honesty that's sort of the main reason I asked you guys if we could visit. I needed to get away from the Super name almost as much as Lena wanted to leave behind the Luthor legacy"

"You are always welcome here" Iris squeezed her shoulder lightly "…what are you going to do about it?"

"Honestly? No clue. For now I just want to lay back and let it play out, give him some time to cool down and get him out of my head… still…he's my only biological living relative…I didn't know how much I craved for his approval until he actually said no" she chuckled bitterly "it felt like he was making me choose and…" she looked up at the Luthors as they discussed another invention "…maybe the outcome wouldn't be on his favor" she finally said "it feels like a betrayal but…leaving them would feel like betraying myself"

Iris hummed while thinking of it "It's a tough spot" she patted her back "You are right, give him some time, he must be just scared and worried. He will come around"

"And if not?"

"Then you also have us to lean on" Iris went in for a side hug making Kara giggle through her pain.

"Thank you, Iris" she leaned into her shoulder.

"Iris come here!" Barry called overexcited "Imagine having this on Star Labs" he pointed at a huge MEKA.

"Why would we need that?"

"To call out for the big guns!"

"You do realize that could only slow you down, right?"

"Plus, if you ever need big guns" Kara wrapped an arm around Lera.

The teen smiled looking up at her mom before something caught her eye. A red dot in the ceiling that began to flicker rapidly, by the time her hearing picked up the noise she just got time to yell.

"Get down!" she pulled Lena to the ground as the glass ceiling shattered in a million pieces and a dozen goons descended from the top throwing gas bombs.

"Everybody to the floor!" a masked man barked while reaching for a pistol strong enough to knock off a building.

"Of course this exposition needed to have a weaponry section!" Iris complained facing down on the ground with Barry protecting her.

"I mean technically it was supposed to be used as a quicker way of controlled demolition" the speedster pointed out getting an incredulous and borderline murderous stare in return "Right, it's on the wrong hands, on it"

"Barry, take as many civilians out of here as you can!" Kara said standing up to blow away the gas "Lera, keep Lena and Iris safe, we've got this"

"But Mom, I can-"

Kara gazed at her intensely leaving no room for arguments before taking off.

Iris speed dialed Wally getting all the help they could get from Star Labs.

Lera threw a table down using it as a shield to keep both women safe, then she used her x ray vision to look through the fog to identify the men "There's still ten of them looting, they are taking some pretty advanced weapons"

"If they fire any of them they could blow up this place, those prototypes are not finished, they are very unstable" Lena said knowing so after she first glance at their blue prints minutes ago.

"Great, how do we disarm them, then?" Iris questioned sarcastically while updating Cisco and Barry on that information.

"They are all electronic devices, right?" Lena began plotting.

"Yeah, I think so, why?" Iris asked covering while debris flew around.

"Because if I can create an electromagnetic wave-"

"You can interfere all systems" Lera finished realizing how resourceful that was.

"That's my girl" Lena smiled encouragingly.

"I know where to get all the components, they are on the other side though" Lera implied knowing she was putting Lena on a compromising situation by waiting for her clearance to disobey Supergirl.

Lena hesitated for a moment before nodding "Go"

Lera pulled her hoodie up and ran past everyone at incredible speed taking some elements from one booth, cables of another and began to take them to Lena, who began to build with Iris' assistance.

"I need a source to give a discharge strong enough to disrupt all devices on at least half a kilometer diameter" Lena asked about to finish her rushed invention.

"I think I can grab it from the futuristic car" Lera chimed getting ready to sprint there but stumbled mid-way into one of the armed men. He turned around wearing his black mask with a skeleton painted in it. Her first instinct was to use her x-ray vision and identify a robust man in his mid-forties, sandy blonde hair and a distinctive scar running on the left side of his jaw.

"What are you doing?" he pointed a gun at her.

Lera raised her arms being fully aware that he had one of the most unstable weapons in his hands, one that powered up by a core that could overheat easily. Perhaps she could survive the explosion but the people around wouldn't be as lucky, she didn't want to give him a reason to pull the trigger.

"Get to the ground, kid" he commanded.

Lera got to her knees while the man approached pulling her hood down, Lera kept her face down casted, even in another dimension she felt the need to protect her identity.

"You are in for big trouble, kid" he aimed at her and just when Lera was planning a way out of the situation without driving him to pull the trigger, a blur appeared form the side tackling him to the ground sending the gun sliding under a table.

Lera exhaled relieved looking up to find Barry gazing at her in a concerned and disapproving manner "You should have stayed put" he scolded.

"Mom said-"

"To stay with Iris and Lena"

"No, other Mom, Lena, is building an apparatus to shut down all electronics; I'm helping her get the pieces"

Barry seems a bit confused and conflicted by that, not knowing whose authority was more imposing right now "Ok, get what you need and go back to them, no unnecessary risks" he asked.

Lera nodded going to get the car's battery and taking the chance to remove the core of the pistol the man was holding against her head earlier.

She dashed over to her human mother and gave her the final piece "Here it is"

"Perfect" Lena connected all of it "now we just need to get this jump started"

A breeze hit them while the youngest speedster appeared next to them "Iris!" he seems relieved to see she was alright "I'll take you all out of here"

"Wait!" Iris exclaimed "Wally, create some lightening and hit those cables, that will disarm the robbers"

"Got it" he took several laps around creating yellow rays that were driven into the machine firing it up with a huge wave that expanded violently killing off all gargets.

"Run!" Iris urged "tell Kara and Barry to take them out now!"

Wally disappeared in an instant knocking down as many robbers as he could on his way.

"We should be safe now" Iris exhaled spying over the table at the exterior; it was no surprise to see all the police units deployed outside the convention, they were tending to all the people that was being evacuated via superheroes. Iris could spot her father looking around nervously, she wanted to tell him she was alright but it would be a while before her phone worked again.

But before they could claim victory Lera heard some rustling at the distance, the sounds of chemicals being mixed, the erosion beginning to kick in an aggressive reaction. Without a moment of hesitation she took off running right into the backpack in which the improvised chemical bomb was and threw it as far up as possible to reduce the impact of the explosion's wave from harming anyone. She wasn't as fortunate to be outside it's radius as she was thrown like a rag doll against the crystal walls breaking through them.

Lera ended up laying on her back looking disorientated into the sky, she couldn't bring herself to move, it wasn't even the pain that kept her clutching on the ground, it had been the high pitch noise that kept on ringing on her ears. She was used to picking up notes and sounds normal people couldn't, but this time the explosion had really hit her primary sense hard.

The sounds were unbearable, she could tell there were people running around in hysteria, which was understandable considering the bomb had gone off blowing up part of the roof and walls, luckily it was mostly empty, there wouldn't be casualties, worst case scenarios some minor injured civilians.

Catching her breath Lera forced herself to roll over her shoulder and try to kneel steading herself, her balance was really off since her inner ear was taking a toll with her. She was barely making out sounds and voices distinguishing Lena's tone on the background, a strong hint of anxiety dripping from her words as far as Lera could tell.

She tried to look for her in the crowd when a hand jerked her up from the ground rather roughly. Lera barely registered that the man had a badge on when he started talking into his communicator, she had to read his lips to really know what he was saying "Southern entrance, where the explosion happened, I've found the girl, I think she was the one that had the bom-"

But the man didn't get to finish his sentence, because as soon as Lera noticed a scar running from the side of his face, she threw a left hook that connected square on his scarred jaw knocking him to ground unconscious. Maybe if she had been more aware of her surroundings without her hearing impairment and her sudden rush of adrenaline, she would have noticed other policemen around and could have avoided what happened next.

"Hey! You are under arrest for attacking an officer" Joe West pulled out a set of handcuffs grabbing the teen.

"What?" Lera questioned, half expecting her hearing to be wrong, but as soon as she felt the cold metal against her wrist she knew he was serious.

"Dad!" Iris West rushed to his side "wait!" she pleaded.

"Iris! I'm so relieved you are alright" his demeanor changed to a softer one.

"You can't arrest her!" Iris urged.

"She attacked an officer" he pointed out as if his daughter was talking nonsense.

The Flash ran up to them after noticing the half kryptonian was in cuffs "She's Lera!" he filled in "that's my friend's daughter"

"What? She just knocked out cold a law enforcer"

"He's one of them, the robbers" Lera interjected, grumbling under her breath, their voices doing no good for her current pain "I saw him inside, he's the man you knocked down, Flash" she explained.

"Please dad, you have to let her go" Iris whispered.

Joe looked around, dozens of eyes settled on him "I can't" he whispered back "It's protocol, at least twenty people saw her punch him, I can't let her go just like that, it won't look good for anyone" he tried to reason with them, he couldn't bend the rules, not even for them "tell your friend to pick her up at the commissary, I'll make sure she's safe, but I need a declaration"

Saying that both Iris and Barry seemed completely at odds and troubled was an understatement.

"That's the best I can do, I'm sorry" Joe dragged the teen to his policecar as Lena and Supergirl finally caught up to them.

"Where's Lera?" Kara asked as hundreds of curious eyes surrounded them.

"We couldn't find her after the explosion" Lena explained.

"She's with my dad" Iris offered letting them get a second to breath calmly before dropping the whole truth "she's been detained"


	10. Chapter 10

Lera kept on massaging her temples trying to push back a headache that was clearly taking over. It had been over an hour since she had first entered the interrogation room. Her ears weren't ringing so badly now but it sure played a major roll with her upcoming migraine.

She fidgeted with her fingers as the chains that held the handcuffs together clicked against the metal table. If she really tried she could snap them and free herself but something told her not to push her luck any further.

The door swung open as a detective put a file on top of the desk "You know what I found?" he asked.

Lera didn't want to play along.

"Absolutely nothing, why and most importantly, how is that possible?"

The kryptonian girl kept quiet.

"Since you are a minor we can't question you without your parents or a lawyer present, so, why don't you make us a favor and call someone?" he pushed a phone in front of her and Lera actually winced. She couldn't call anyone. At her own earth she was Lena Luthor's adopted daughter but at this dimension she didn't even exist and neither did Lena or Kara, there was no way to prove her parentage to either; she was sort of trapped in the legal system.

Luckily Joe West entered the room, a very uncharacteristic grimace on his face "take five, I've got this" he all but dragged the other man out before sitting in front of her "So…Iris tells me you are not from around" he began.

Lera glanced at the double mirror on her right, an inquisitive brown arched.

"No one is watching nor recording" Joe assured.

Lera visibly relaxed "Supergirl is my DNA donor, same as Lena" she said as if that was somehow to explain everything.

"You punched the lights out of a full grown man" Joe whispered back a bit of amazement in his tone "That's one of my strongest guys"

"He was part of the robbery; I saw his scar and his full face. I don't know if he pretended to be an officer or if he actually is, but he was involved" she deadpanned.

Joe sighed running a hand through his hair "I shouldn't let you go under normal circumstances but you are in all ways a special case. You are lucky that interference you created turned down all the security cameras since no one can see you in action or relate you to the explosion because technically you are the one that threw it" he added under his breath "but it's just the same as difficult to place the robbers because of that, some got away and we have no lead, so I will run some background checks on the cop you assaulted, see what comes up" he pulled the key out releasing her wrists "do me a favor, though. Don't put them in this situation again" he pulled her to the hallway where two very crossed women awaited with some fake ID to pay for the fine and get her out of there.

Joe sighed "Right so, since she was so shocked with the whole explosion and scared because of the heist that she was caught up in, she reacted by attacking a man whom she clearly didn't recognized as an office thinking he was one of the criminals involved in the theft. She'll go with just a warning, nothing on her record" he chuckled sarcastically "not that there's a record we can pull out" he cleared his throat "So, Miss Luther, Miss Donovan" he used the fake names "please make sure your kid stays out of trouble"

"We will" both agreed taking a stern look at her.

Lera could feel the headache already hammering her down.  
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"I didn't really punch a policeman!" Lera yelled back at Lena while walking into Star Labs "he was at the robbery, I know that for a fact"

"That's not the whole problem!" Lena countered "you don't even see it! That was so reckless! Our earth or not, you should be careful not to raise suspicions! You know the trouble you made the Allen-Wests go through? You put them on a terrible situation between their duty and our relationship. They had to break the law just to get you out"

"I was helping people!"

"That too, I told you to stay put" Kara interfered in a steadier tone.

"Mom needed to build the electromagnetic wave; I was assisting in getting the equipment, which actually helped out to stop the crime!"

Kara shot a look at Lena "You Okayed that?"

"I didn't approved of her to run off with a bomb"

"I was trying to save people!" Lera cut in repeating her point driving a hand to cover her eyes, her temperature clearly rising and all the yelling doing no favors to her sensitive hearing "I couldn't let that man go and keep hurting others! Besides, I was the only one that even heard the bomb about to go off, I took a risk because it was for the greater good!"

"You can't keep using that to excuse your actions!" Lena threw her arms to the air frustrated trying to reach for her shoulder to turn her around and face her.

That's when Lera felt her blood boil in a whole new level, something truly beginning to turn on her insides. "You don't get it!" she shouted feeling her temper explode as she gazed upon Lena. Her ire was bubbling in her veins heating her body, but she never expected that after a short zooming noise her eyes shot beams of heat vision that hit Lera square on her shoulder throwing her across the room until she crashed against the wall.

Lera shut her eyes stumbling backwards completely horrified at her own display as the only thing she could hear was her mother's cry of pain.

"Lena!" Kara went to her side picking her in arms pressing her hand against the burn "it's ok, I've got you, it was just a graze, you are going to be fine" Kara cooed comfortingly despite the utter shock and fear that was quivering in her voice.

"Mm-Mom?" Lera's voice was above a whisper, half her mind already racing to get next to her and aid, the other absolutely dismayed that she could make it all worst "I'm so- I didn't-" her words caught up on her throat, tears already roaming through shut tight eyes. Unable to face her doing, Lera kept an arm pressed against her face as she fled in terror to retrieve to a forgotten corner of the building, somewhere she couldn't hurt anyone, especially those she loved.

"Barry!" Kara called in a more agitated and terrified tone than she would have liked.

Not a second later the speedster appeared in the scene "Kara, what's wro-? Lena!" he knelt down to check on her before pressing his com "Caitlin, get the medical bay ready, we are heading there" he ran ahead to prepare everything.

Lena whimpered fighting off her own pain to gaze into Kara's eyes "Wh-where's Lera?" she chocked out.

"I-I don't know" Kara answered while picking her up carefully.

"You need to find her" Lena urged stopping her movements "don't let her be alone"

"We need to tend to you" Kara countered with insistence.

"Kara, please! She must be frightened"

Kara's eyes were lost and conflicted; she could see Lena's demons inside those beautiful emeralds, a part of guilt and past regrets surfacing.

"O-ok, yes, of course I'm going to find her, just let me be at ease knowing you will be tended to" she pleaded.

Once Lena nodded in understanding, Kara flew her into the medical bay's bed and allowed Barry's team to take care of her.  
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An hour later Lena was stable and a machine was carefully suturing her skin back together treating the third degree burn. The CEO was medicated, so at least for now she was asleep until they had to go into the next stage of the treatment, but throughout her procedure, the only thing she cared about was that Lera was ok.

Kara flew around the base without finding her, not even with her x-ray vision, but according to the motion detectors she hadn't left Star Labs, she was just avoiding being found.

Barry dashed back running into Kara "Anything?"

"No" Kara paced preoccupied.

"She's here, Kara, she hasn't left and there isn't any signature of a dimensional jump. Lera is probably…freaked out of her mind" Barry shrugged "I'll check on the cell levels, you stay in this floor in case Lena needs anything"  
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It was just in the nick of a moment, Lera kept seeing it on replay on her memories cursing her ability to remember everything so perfectly, because she could see Lena's pained expression as she was being hit.

Lera didn't have heat vision, that was one of the first powers she ruled out by herself. The first time she tried to use them it was to protect Lena at the DEO when she felt like the Luthor was being threatened, and now that she had actually used them for a first time, she had hurt her, her mother. So she kept her eyes shut as tears fell freely down her cheeks and covered her ears to drown out all the impossibly ever present sounds that surrounded her. She couldn't depend on two of her primal senses and still, she felt when Barry approached her.

His pace, his way of carrying himself was easy to tell apart. She knew she could trust him, regardless, she hoped she could be alone for longer, until she was absolutely certain she wouldn't fire her newly obtained heat vision. She buried her face even further between her knees while pressing her hands tight over her ears.

"Hey" Barry sat in front of her noticing she had positioned herself behind a lead wall, that was why Kara couldn't had been able to find her "smart kid" he mused out loud before reaching for her shoulder "Are…are you alright?" he tried to be sympathetic "I…heard what happened…"

Lera sniffed trying to compose herself, she bit into her lower lip preventing her voice form cracking "Can…can you call my Aunt Alex?" she asked softly, flinching at her own voice.

"Alex Danvers?" he repeated a bit confused getting an eager nod in return.

"I need her help" she mumbled.

Barry wasn't expecting the request "I'm-I'm sorry I don't have the way to make a dimensional call right now and Cisco is currently busy" he tried to reason "but I can call Kara" he pressed his communicator leaving the channel open ready to report his finding.

"No!" Lera urged recoiling at her high pitched request before trying to smooth down her voice "I can signal Aunt Alex to make the jump, please don't call Kara" she pleaded quietly.

"W-why not?" Barry asked confused "Whatever you are going through, I'm sure she's the right person to help"

Lera shook her head miserably "She must hate me"

"What?" Barry asked aback "What are you talking about?"

"I-I hurt my Mom" she chocked on her words "Kara must be so angry at me"

"Hey" Barry rubbed her back soothingly trying to encourage her to look up to no avail "Kara doesn't hate you, we all know you didn't mean to hurt Lena"

Lera shook her head feeling the tears escape once more "I yelled at her, I was so mad, I was lashing out when suddenly all I could see was red and then, and then-" her words became a knot as she pressed her body into more of a shell "I can't face Kara, I can't"

The speedster felt utter pain at how broken she looked "Hey…it's alright. Kara will always love you, she's your mom too and believe me, I know all the extents a mother can go for her child and Kara is no different, but you have to give her a chance to try to reach out for you" he explained "we have been looking for you for over an hour now, do you honestly think she just wants to find you to say something like 'I hate you'? Come on, you are her genetics as well, you know she would never do it" he smiled politely drying her eyes "So, Can I take you to her?"  
________________________________________________

Barry walked back to the main hall where Kara was already expecting him, a sorrowful expression on her face.

"Hey, is something wrong with Lena?" he immediately asked thinking that could be the only reason she would look that demarcated.

"No, she's stable" she looked down at her folded arms.

"Oh, that's a relief" he sighed clearly feeling better "because I found-"

"I know" she whispered back.

"You know? How do you-?" and then the speedster realized he never turned his channel off "you heard all of that?" he asked concerned.

"I'm truly not surprised she asked for Alex first" Kara admitted hugging herself tight "when she first came into our lives I shut her out and pushed her away. Lena had to step up to raise her and Alex stepped in to make me take a part in her life" she swallowed hard "It's only natural she felt that way about me, she was fresh out in the world trying to figure out who she was, what her powers could do and I flew right off the building the second she looked up to me with those bright green eyes…Lena's eyes…" Kara looked down "I must really have hurt her"

Barry stood silent before taking a step closer squeezing her forearm "Maybe you shut her down in the past, believe me, dwelling on that or trying to change what's already happened won't help, but… right now you have another chance. She just used a power she didn't have, she needs guidance, someone that can teach her how to cope with that and what just happened" he looked into her eyes "it's your time to step up and step in, Supergirl" he moved to the side "she's just three doors down, go talk to your daughter"  
___________________

Kara's steps have always been light, like she could skip in the air, maybe because she was used to flying. It was almost soothing for Lera to hear them approach if not for the fact that her heart raced in anticipation of an argument she wasn't ready to have.

She pressed her flexed arms harder against her skull, eyes unwaveringly shot close and chin facing down in shame.

Kara wasn't expecting that sight when she walked in "Lera…what's -? Why are you covering like that?" she tried to get near without frightening her away.

"…All sounds hurt…a lot" she admitted shamefully.

Kara felt empathy swirling through, she too spent some of the worst days of her life fighting against noise, against every single sound, from the faintest rustling of leaves on the outside to the very sound of a heartbeat "Hey, it's ok" she cooed as mutedly as she could while reaching out for her. She pulled Lera against her chest pressing her ear there before covering the other one with a hand to block out as much as she could, feeling how Lera clenched at the fabric of her outfit trying to steady herslef fighting off the dizziness "Don't focus on the tones, nor the volumes" Kara whispered "feel the vibrations instead. Just pay attention to how those wave around in a drowned manner" she continued whispering.

Lera slowly began to relax her shoulders as the painful experience was substituted by a new exercise. When Kara felt her flinching reduce, she began to let go, allowing her ears to settle back into a normal level "There we go" she spoke in a medium tone making sure she was indeed settling fine. When she tried to meet her eyes she became aware that her emeralds were furiously concealed behind closed eyelids. She didn't need an explanation for that, she herself had done the same when she first got her heat vision.

Lera took in a deep breath and mustered the courage to ask "How's…how is Lena?"

Kara wasn't used to hear Lera call the Luthor by first name, so she knew she was trying to put distance between the two, maybe as a self-punishment of a sort.

"She would be much better if you could go see her" Kara answered "she hasn't stopped asking for you"

Lera shook her head miserably "I can't, what if I hurt her again?"

"You'll be fine, I'm going to be there the whole time" she patted her shoulder "and nothing and no one is going to hurt you, physically or otherwise" she offered trying to emphasize and reassure her that by no means she would dare hated her.  
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Lena tried to conceal the whimper that escaped her lips as the regeneration took place "Sorry" she muttered to Caitlin "I'll try not to move"

"Are you kidding? Barry fainted the first time we used this machine on him, you are nailing it" Cisco said genuinely impressed "If I didn't know Supergirl I'd say you are the unbreakable one. You are a tough bone"

"Years of practice, I guess" she offered a small smile trying to focus in anything but the horrid sensation of her flesh being pushed, pulled and sewed back together.

A knock called form the door "You are awake" Kara said softly and hugely relieved "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine" Lena said hurriedly, scanning for any signs "did you found her?"

"Barry did" the Super moved aside allowing the teen to walk in, face down casted, eyes tightly shut.

"Sweetie?" Lena called extending her uninjured arm towards "it's ok, it was just a scratch"

Lera shook her head ashamed "It's not" she bit into her lower lip "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled, I should have stayed put and I definitely shouldn't have hurt you" she listed shrugging her shoulders as if by taking the least space possible she could disappear.

"I think we'll give you a moment" Caitlin offered while all the team, except for Supergirl, left the room for them to talk.

"Lera, listen to me" Lena asked adamantly "we might argue from time to time, that runs in my family and I could tell you stories of how Lillian and I quarreled in the past, but I'm sure you have the gist from my share of DNA in your system. But there's one thing I absolutely want you to be sure about, that no matter how much we bicker or disagree on things, I'll always love you. You are my daughter. And today was an accident, needless to say, no one was expecting you to have that ability so why are you blaming yourself so harshly over something you didn't have control on?"

Lera felt her lower lip tremble "I wounded you…" the guilt was dripping off of her persona.

Lena frowned sadly "It wounds me worst that you can't even look me in the eyes" she admitted making the girl recoil in surprise "open your eyes, sweetie. I don't like that you are afraid of yourself, of who you are. It might be the powers that you inherited what frightens you right now, but I know it's my own set of feelings what is haunting you right now. You aren't evil, you didn't meant harm, you were upset and that just happened to link up to your untapped powers, but that doesn't make you a bad person" Lena said steadily "Do you think I'm like the other Luthors, Lera?"

The teen shook her head mortified by even the implication of the idea "Of course not"

"Then believe me when I say, neither are you" she extended her arm once more "come here, sweetie and let me look at your eyes, because those were my gift to you and I want them to look with wonder and awe to the world, not with fear and despair"

Lera swallowed hard walking towards her voice before stumbling into her hand and taking it tentatively. She pressed her palm nervously before daring to crack her eyes open. The tears had clouded her vision, but she could distinguish her mother's face even through the tears. She immediately noticed her right shoulder being a nasty shade of purple and red and she felt like crying all over again, but was cut short by a tender hand that coped her face.

"There's my girl" Lena smiled whipping the rivers that overflowed her pinky cheeks "It's ok, sweetie"

Lera shook her head "I'm so sorry" she chocked out.

"I know. We both didn't handle the situation right, I guess the only way I know to get my point across in family matters is by shouting it to the other side of the room" Lena offered a shy smile "I have been nagging you a lot about your safety lately, I'm aware, it's simply on the account that I didn't want to lose you, especially since if it weren't for me you would be truly invincible except for the kryptonite… I think I too felt guilt that you were getting hurt because of me"

Lera grabbed her hand with more presence "You were actually hurt because of me"

Lena smiled forcefully seeing how broken her girl was "So, how about we both forgive and forget?" she offered "I promise I'll try to give you your space to grow, granted, it will take me some time but I'll make an effort, because I do trust you and it makes me incredibly proud that you can save so many people, but I'm selfish because I want you to be safe next to me" she tilted her head "In return, you'll try to reason a bit more before going head first into danger, wait for backup and we both agree to talk things out before getting to shouting" Lena proposed "sounds reasonable?"

Lera nodded getting over the tears to offer a sincere smile "I promise, I'll never hurt you again"

"I know, sweetie" Lena smiled looking at the little sparkle that hid behind her eyes and she knew that was Kara's pleading signature "come here" she opened her arm and Lera promptly settled on the bed to cuddle against her.

Kara smiled at the sight and silently walked outside the room to where Barry was talking with his team.

"Can you make sure she's healed by tomorrow?" he was consulting Caitlin when she hinted for him to look back "Kara, hey, is everything going alright in there?"

Kara smiled sweetly "Yeah, they are going to be just fine" she looked at all of them "I'm sorry for all we've made you go through, it's been truly a long and…troublesome day"

"Please, this is our average day and you should hear Oliver's, he's so filled with drama" Cisco laughed by himself.

"What he means is that we are here to help you, guys" Caitlin said gently "and sure, today was busier than usual but it's nothing new"

"That's right, it will take more than a robbery, bomb explossion, charges of assault and heat vision to scare us" Cisco said in such a convinced tone that it was clear he meant well, even if the phrazing was less than desirable.

"Anyways...Lena has to stay the night here" Barry added "sorry, but the equipment isn't mobile"

"Don't apologize, please" Kara half chuckled "I'll stay with her, you guys go home and please get some rest, we'll see you in the morning"

"What? Are you kidding, we are staying too" he said matter-of-factly with his goofy smirk "Wally is already picking up some food for all of us"

"Really, you don't have to"

"Hey, we are friends" Barry said perkily to the alien from another earth "and as long as you are staying in our dimension you won't be alone. We are your designated family for the week"

Kara blinked back the tears before they could even form in the corner of her eyes "thanks, to all of you" she looked down avoiding eyes before she felt the close embraces of the Allen-Wests.  
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They ate at the infirmary sharing anecdotes, getting to know each other and ultimately getting the feeling of a family, a hero family, one that knew all your secrets, people that shared the same burden, privileges and responsibility, all of it. They felt safe.

"Seriously, you four just ate 10 combo meals" Iris scoffed "I'm going to quit yoga"

"Kara used to come to spinning with me just to devour a dozen doughnuts at the end of every class in front of the whole group. She's not welcome there anymore" Lena shared making the others laugh.

"It's not my fault!" Kara said in mocked indignation.

"And that didn't raise any suspicions?" Wally asked chuckling.

"She's the queen of indiscretion, some days she even wears the cape underneath her clothes"

"Hey! That's a professional secret!"

They laugher boomed again before the mechanical clock stroke midnight making a sound that made them turn around to gaze at it.

"I think you better go home, Wally" Iris suggested "before dad freaks out even more"

"Right, 's gonna be fun to try and explain the whole thing to him" he stood up from the floor patting Lera's shoulder "see ya tomorrow"

She smiled nodding back "Good night"

"Ok, wait up yellow speedster, I'm the one making sure you get home safe, designated driver. Let's make a jump"

"You know I can be home like in ten seconds flat and that's if I take my time"

"Wont' risk it, sorry, but Joe is that close to explode, let's not give him any more reasons" he prepared putting his glasses on "Caitlin, need a lift home?"

"I'll take you up on your offer" she stood up "So, everything is set, the machine is just radiating now and then to assist the tissue recovery, if anything feels abnormal call me"

"We'll be fine, thank you"

"Until tomorrow" they blinked themselves out of the room through a bluish portal.

Barry stood up stretching "Ok, we'll let you get some rest too" he wrapped an arm over Iris' shoulders "we have some rooms near here you can use"

"I- I would like to stay here?" Lera said, her voice turning weak at the end.

Iris smiled "Of course, there's a pull out couch over there"

"Thanks" Lera nodded, absently looking at where Iris pointed, because truth was, she didn't needed to know where it was.

"Ok, so Kara, down the hall to the left there's an empty room" Barry said almost slyly.

"Oh, I-I think I'll stay here too. Just to make sure" she put her hands on her hips in her usual hero pose.

"Sure" he smiled cunningly and Iris just elbowed him in the ribs knowing he was teasing them.

"We'll be just a few doors down if you need anything"

"Alright, sleep tight"

"You too" they exited leaving three knowing smiles in return.

Lera just kicked her shoes off nestling against Lena. The Luthor didn't think twice before wrapping her arm around her and kissing her forehead. Kara on the other hand fidgeted for a moment or two.

"I-I'll just settle over there" she pointed at the couch before going to turn the light off.

"Are you sure?"

"Ye-yeah" she offered a confident smile that didn't falter until the end "Night" she laid on the couch hugging herself tight.

She focused all her efforts on hearing their breathing until she was sure they were asleep. Now she was the only one up, gazing at them from afar. The first time Kara pulled Lera out of the pod she could tell they had a strong resemblance, all but the eyes, of course. But as they spent time together she began to notice Lena's facial expressions on the teen and how her curly hair had grown a darker shade of blonde; still, a perfect amalgam of the two.

Maybe the biggest difference Kara could point between her clone and herself was the way Lera carried herself. Kara was brave and unyielding when she was Supergirl, but not much so when she was Kara Danvers. Lera on the other hand, she knew how to stand her ground, suit on or not. That was Lena's ever present confidence in her capabilities, even if sometimes the outside world made her doubt herself, she could always get through it.

Smiling at the two, Kara stood up and decided to levitate to avoid doing much noise, knowing Lera's hearing would probably pick up the slightest of shifts other than the white noise she had allowed to slip by while falling asleep. She hovered over to them making sure the machine was actually closing the burn, luckily it was doing an excellent job, so there was nothing left to do but wait.

The Luthor shifted a bit getting her hair ruffled up. Kara huffed at the sight of Lena being anything but impeccable, so she drove one of her stray hairs behind her ear jolting back when emerald eyes connected with sky clear eyes.

"Sorry!" she whispered loudly making Lera wince in her sleep while readjusting and pulling the cover over her shoulder to block out noises. Once sure she was settled Kara uncovered her mouth "I wanted to be sure the machine was working"

"It is, I feel better" she mumbled back the sleepiness dragging her voice a bit.

Kara smiled tightly unwilling to go just yet, not before saying it "You were wonderful today" she said "the way you handled it…I plainly panicked, it wasn't second nature for me to make sure Lera was alright, I…I feel like I've failed…"

"You didn't" Lena said more awake now "you found her, you talked to her- And I'm sure she's going to need you a lot more to figure this out, so don't be too hard of a judge with yourself" the raven haired woman offered a knowing smirk "I was able to do what I did today because you have taught me how to actually acknowledge my feelings instead of storing them away or avoiding them. You didn't actually think that was my Luthor parenting style in action, did you?" she giggled softly trying to lighten up the heaviness in the Super's shoulders "Remember that you are my hero, Kara Zor-El"

The Kryptonian's face lighted up while a faint blush ran across her cheeks "You called me by my name…"

"I did" she pierced her with her green eyes "because that's who you are, just as I am Lena Kieran Luthor. Time we both accept all the letters that mark our lives"

Kara's smile grew to be an encouragingly one "I will try my best"

"That's all anyone can ask for" Lena smiled back while a yawn slipped by.

"I'll let you rest then" Kara slowly began to descent.

"The couch looks awfully uncomfortable" Lena chuckled.

"It's fine, I'll probably end up sleep-flying again anyways" she admitted shyly.

"Well, we wouldn't want you hitting the ceiling, would we?" Lena extended her arm towards her once she was sure Lera was cuddled and secured against her chest.

Kara was puzzled for a moment before intertwining their fingers waiting for an explanation of a sort.

"I'll make sure you don't go anywhere" Lena closed her eyes getting ready to sleep without another single word as a sly smirk tugged on the side of her lips.

Kara smiled fondly getting in a suitable position now that she was just softly swaying in the air, being confident that she couldn't go astray, not as long as she had Lena by her side.


	11. Chapter 11

Lera tried not to fidget around while Caitlin strapped her into the machine that scanned through her. And all because of a comment the scientist had made…  
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"As far as you explained, Lera shouldn't be showing so much of your share of the DNA" Caitlin had said towards the Kryptonian "The other day when she fell down, I said her kryptonian genes had kicked in and maybe that shouldn't be an expression…I think something is altering her subatomic structure and that's why she's developing her other powers" she explained, arms crossed in an almost apologetic manner "I wanted to ask if it's alright if I run some tests?"  
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"I'm almost done" Caitlin said in a reassuring voice getting a short nodd in return.

"So, if you could have any ability that you don't currently have, which one would it be?" Cisco asked sitting next to the bed keeping the teen some company.

Lera's smile grew bright and wide "Flying" she said without a second thought "I would give up all the other powers just to have that one"

Cisco grinned back "that'd be so cool"

"Can we come in?" Kara called from the door as she helped Lena steady herself, her arm tightly bandaged against her body.

"Sure, I'm waiting for the results" Caitlin informed going to the screens.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Lena asked running her fingers through her hair in a soothing manner.

"Good?" she said nervously "I just don't like being restrained or getting tested…it reminds me of Cadmus…" she admitted, nasty images of her origins comming to mind.

"Hang in there for a couple of more minutes" Kara smiled encouragingly "it'll be for the better"

"I know" Lera shrugged before redirecting her eyes "how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright" Lena answered eagerly "I don't feel any pain"

Lera sighed relieved offering a nod, both had agreed to forgive and forget, so she didn't push the topic any further, she simply wanted to make sure Lena was alright.

The machine did a beeping sound and suddenly the screen threw the results. Caitlin studied them while a confused look became more present. Cisco seemed to notice an abnormality too as he began to compare the DNA charts.

"Is that her actual subatomic structure?" Barry asked frowning "Is it a comparation with the signature from when she first got her?" he questioned.

"It is" Caitlin said "you see it too, right?"

"But how- why?" he countered.

"My best guess, because of the surroundings"

"Um…can you guys fill us in?" Kara asked growing concerned by their awestruck looks.

"Ok, um…how do I put this?" Barry walked towards her "you know how I can't vibrate in certain earths?"

"Yes?"

"Ok, so, something like that is happening to Lera"

"But instead of annulling her powers, it's actually reducing the restrictions of her human share" Cisco explained.

"So she's getting all her powers?"

"Well, no, because she isn't a full Kryptonian, but she's tapping to the ones she had potential to develop, the ones she at least once tried to use as a second nature, because she had them there, just not as present as to use them"

"So you are saying that being in this dimension is somehow suppressing her human DNA?" Lena asked trying to follow the logistics "so, the longer we stay the more they'll evolve?"

"It's a likely outcome, yes"

"So, is she turning less like Lena and more like Kara?" Iris asked confused.

"It's not like she is losing all the qualities or aptitudes Lena inherited her, because she was engineered and those are her fundaments, so let's say her bases- her pillars are the same, this earth is only suppressing the restrictions of being a human"

"Then...the other day, when I said I was flying...?" Lera traced back.

"You might had been right" Caitlin admitted "we don't know the extent of your new powers"

"And once we go back home, what happens then?" Lena asked

"Well, it's not like the effect can be reversed, she'll keep the abilities she's obtained here, it's not revocable, it's just going to be part of who she is now, because since the beginning the potential was there"

"Sort of what happened with Wally?" Iris asked "when in a parallel version he had the speed force?"

"Kind of like that" Barry tilted his head considering it.

"So, being exposed here did this? Otherwise, if we had stayed home she wouldn't have accessed these powers?"

"That sounds about right"

"Knock, knock" a manly voice called from the door, a file in hands "is this a bad time?" Asked Joe West.  
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"I've checked all the schedules and car monitors, I'm sorry, but the man Lera punched was indeed a cop. He was in the station all morning and only got out to assist at the Expo" he pulled an USB out "I've brought all the videos from the police car and the commissary, he wasn't involved" Joe deadpanned.

"No, no, it doesn't make sense, I saw him, sandy blond hair, mid-forties, a scar on the left side of his face" Lera listed truly confused.

"His scar is on the right side" Joe pointed out catching the little detail.

"No, I remember seeing it-! I aimed for it!"

"You punched him in the right side of the face" Joe explained calmly "it was a left hook"

Lera looked at her own hands her muscular memory taking place, he was right.

"Furthermore he doesn't have a bruised arm. As Barry explained, he tackled the robber and at that speed and that strength he should be showing at least a bruise, but other than a dislocated jaw, he has nothing"

Lera covered her face processing all the information "I actually assaulted a police officer?"

Kara rubbed her back gently "Hey, don't beat yourself too badly, you just had been thrown by an explosion and your hearing was in bad shape. You made a mistake, that is all"

"I put him in the hospital...that's all I've been doing since I got here"

Lena frowned giving her a stern and worried look forcing Lera to look away "Is he going to be alright?" The teen asked instead.

"He is, despite the difficulties, he was discharged yesterday"

"I'm guessing he wouldn't take it kindly if I visited?"

Joe shook his head no, a sympathetic smile on his face.

"I would like to pay for all his medical bills and whatever rehabilitation needed afterwards" Lena said, she was used to cleaning up after Lex, but for once she truly just wanted to protect her daughter and ease up the guilt she was feeling. Her money wasn't to buy peace of mind out of all the pain her brother inflicted, but to reassure her kid that she would have her back, even when she messed up badly, because she knew her heart was in the right place.

"I don't know how he would react to it" Joe said thoughtfully.

"I want it to be anonymous, you can tell him someone saw the mishap and felt for his cause"

Joe nodded shortly "I'll see what I can do"

"Thank you"

Lera fidgeted with her hands dealing with remorse "I can go to jail and serve some time" she said looking Joe in the eye with sincerity "I don't know how much time is required in this earth but I am willing to do it"

"Lera" her mothers looked at her in a mix of horror and pride.

"That won't be necessary, you were already processed and your mom paid the fine, so you're cleared"

"But I was actually guilty" Lera countered, her eyebrows knitted.

"Listen kid-Lera" Joe corrected "I'll admit, when we let you go I was less than thrilled but for what I can see now, you truly were just trying to help and I know how messy things can get. Believe me I've seen Barry stumble and fall when he first started being the Flash and I don't mean just in the literal way. So take this as a life experience and take a second before jabbing another person"

That actually made Lera chuckle "Thank you, Mister West and...sorry for the trouble"

Joe smiled, something of Lera's drive reminded him of how parenting Iris felt like "some people are worth the trouble" he then looked up "Miss Luthor, Miss Danvers" he shook hands with them.  
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"So the charges were real..." Iris traced back looking at Barry who wore a serious grimace like trying to piece it all together "hey, what's the matter?"

"It doesn't make sense" he bit into his thumb's nail "when Lera told me it was the same guy I had tackled before it seemed about right"

"Well, as my dad said, the cop wasn't even there"

"I know, I know but the description was on point, the policeman was exactly the same height and weight as the man I tackled at the Expo"

"Barry, being mid-forties and in shape is not that weird, Lera was confused and fuzzy"

"But she was so convinced" he repeated.

"Did you saw his face?"

"No" he grumbled.

"Did you happen to find fingerprints or anything to test the DNA?"

"No" he said again even grumpier "and we have no feed because of the electric wave"

Iris sighed knowing how upset her husband was over those details "It's alright, Barry. I know you'll find them"

He let go of the tension offering a smirk in return "thanks, Iris" he kissed her.

"Aheam" Joe cleared his throat "am I interrupting?"

Iris smiled "what's up dad?"

"I'm heading back to the station, make sure your foreign friends stay out of trouble and call if something comes up regarding those robbers"

"Sure, thanks for everything, Joe"

"Don't mention it, really don't, no one can know about it"

"Roger that"

"Ok then, I'll see you around"

"Bye!" they bared their farewells before the silence settled in, both knew that the news about the whole accident wouldn't be an easy topic and on top of that, Caitlins findings were nothing short of surprising and unsetteling, but neither actually expected what the Super said next when they were all at the control center.  
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Kara looked down pressing her fists "I'm sorry, Barry. I think I'll have to cut our trip short" she gazed at him apologetically "thank you all so much for everything but..."

"I understand, Kara" he smiled politely, unable to hide his disappointment.

"Hey, at least when Lera's powers settle down you can visit again. This whole 'evolution' thing is a onetime deal. Once she gets it under control there won't be any more problems " Cisco said, he too looking deflated by their early departure.

"Yeah, we'll be more than happy to come again when her powers aren't so unstable, it'll take some training but…hopefully soon?" Kara offered.

Lera looked down shrugging her shoulders as Lena passed a hand on her back soothingly.

"Sure" Barry smirked weakly "hey, maybe we can visit you guys some other time, you know, without our annual crisis"

"That'd be great"

"Wait" Lena interrupted "just to be sure…if we go home now, her human DNA will stop being restricted?"

"Well, not completely" Caitlin intervened "it won't be as strong, but the damage is done- I mean the structural change will continue" she corrected embarrassed.

Lena looked at her daughter, her whole demeanor screamed defeat and Kara seemed just so sad of leaving after spending so little time there "Then, no. We aren't leaving"

"What?" everyone in the room asked, some surprised, some ecstatic.

"If we go now you will leave this dimension feeling scared of yourself, of your potential" she looked into Lera's eyes reflecting her own before gazing up at Kara "And if we are going to go through this just the same here or at home, I think it's best if we let her reach the peak of her capabilities. Besides, training her in our own earth is going to be beyond challenging, it's hard enough as it is to balance CatCo, L-Corp, the DEO and superhero missions" she looked for Barry "and if I can abuse your kindness just once more, I think she would be safer and more prepared if she was to train here with you, with your team" she finished "So, can we stay for a little longer? Just until her powers can be channeled correctly" she asked Flash's team.

After exchanging huge smiles, Barry spoke up "We'd be honored"


	12. Chapter 12

"Ok little Super Luthor, let's put on some gear" Cisco said excitedly handing her a pair of glasses that matched his own.

"I don't actually need to improve my sight" she said confused.

"Those aren't simply a pair of shades; they'll help you out with your heat vision. I've modified them so that they can withstand the heat and prevent you from shooting unless you want to. They are kind of your training wheels for the week"

Lera put them on "Do they have a switch or something?"

"I swear Cisco, if they light up and have written in them 'Super Luthor' I'm going to run back in time and kick you for it before you get the idea"

"What-? Of course not Barry, I'm offended" he cleared his throat "but just in case; don't push the little button on the right" he mumbled to Lera "Now, fold your arms and tilt your head to the right, chin up, like this" he did so gazing upon the rest of the team while Lera copied him in perfect unison.

"What's that supposed to do?" Kara asked.

"Strike fear in the heart of our enemies"

Lera actually chuckled while the rest of the adults groaned at his antiques.

"Anyways, back into real training" Barry approached "we've put some targets on the far end of the dessert, try to hit them" he pointed to the empty road where he first tested out his skills.

Lera gazed intensely towards it but not even a spark jumped out of her eyes. She resignedly looked down "How am I supposed to channel it?"

Kara sucked in a breath knowing it was her turn to intervene; still, she felt the need to take a glance over to find Lena smiling confidently towards her "It's a different drive for each of us" she began "For Clark it presented when he felt attracted towards his crush, for me it was during nightmares and you happened to fire when mad"

"I don't want to be angry every time I try to use them" Lera rubbed her forearm self-consciously.

"That's fine, because it's not like I only use it when I have a nightmare of feel threatened, it's just the first reaction" Kara soothed "this one power is kind of tricky, believe me, I kept my eyes closed for a long while too" she patted her shoulder "but here's the thing, you have to let yourself feel it and this is going to be a really weird concept to grasp, especially because as soon as you walked outside of Cadmus you already knew what set of powers I had and tried to replicate them, some with great success, others not so much. But it was always a reflex, you didn't have to learn how to nurture them outside, not until now" she let go of her shoulder looking at the far away targets "this one you have to will into existence" she gazed intensely at the objective before letting out a bright beam that hit the bull's-eye.

Lera shrugged her shoulders turning her back briefly on the rest of the spectators "What if…I don't want to will it into existence?" she mumbled and even behind her shades, Kara could see how troubled she was.

"Hey" the blonde leaned in to be at eye level "I understand why you are reluctant to try it but…think of the first time you meant to use it" Lera blushed madly in a mixture of embarrassment and fury "you were trying to protect Lena, you were willing to fight off the whole DEO. That was your actual motivation to use heat vision, you needed to defend her. And believe me, as horrible as it sounds, that won't be the only time you'll need to protect Lena, so might as well have an ace up your sleeve, don't you think?"

"To protect?" Lera repeated, that idea making more sense in her head and heart.

Kara nodded "That's it"

Lera took in a deep breath rolling her shoulders back getting in position before locking the target in sight.

"Very good, now imagine that it flows through you, let it run out with the soul motive that you intend to protect" Kara narrated.

Lera concentrated feeling how the blood in her veins warmed up her skin, relating the feeling of comfort with how safe she felt when she could hug Lena or lean into Kara and finally, when that shiver climbed up her spine and into her head, two heat beams erupted flying across the dessert with uncanny strength blowing to pieces the targets. Lera actually lost her footing due to the jolt of force that pushed her center and ended up stumbling backwards. Kara promptly extended her arms to catch her. She gazed down at her daughter with a bright smile while Lera sneaked a glimpse up with the glasses half hanging from her face.

"That was great" Kara praised with a huge grin.  
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"Ok, so strength" Caitlin said while programming the training room to project simulations for her "this will run different scenarios to measure how you can react to a situation based on the use of your muscular force

Lera jumped up and down trying to loosen up "Ready" she gave thumbs up looking at the control cabin where the rest of the team observed.

"Each time you accomplish a mission the level will go up, it's all a projection of solid light, so if you want to tap out just say 'End Course'"

"Got it" she focused getting her head on the game.

"And here we go"

The room transformed into an urban scenery, just a random street, nothing out of the ordinary "Um…do I get a mission debrief or…?"

Suddenly a car came flying from across, aiming at her. Lera barely managed to take a jump back before trying to stop it's trajectory to avoid further collateral damage "In what kind of situation is a car going to be tossed at me?!"

"More often than you think" both heroes said at unison.

Lera arched her brows incredulously before a school bus was the next thing coming her way "Time to catch the bus" she told herself making Cisco laugh on the other side of the line. She bent her knees making her stance as stable as possible while catching the vehicle.

"Remember, if this were a real dire situation that bus would be filled with children"

"Handle it with care, got it" Lera said through gritted teeth making a big effort to lay it down softly on the floor until her fingers lost the grip and it plainly crashed into the concrete bouncing once.

Lera shrugged clenching her teeth in a jolted matter "Sorry! Um, how many kids would have sustained injuries by that?"

"We'll duck you points but ultimately they would be bruised, not broken"

"Catching the bus though, that should be a gentler touch; deceleration is what actually kill people in car crashes"

"Understood" Lera turned back into the simulator "ready for the next bus"

"You have another thing coming" Cisco huffed as a gasoline truck was heading towards her at full speed.

"Aw, come on!" Lera began to run all the possible scenarios on her head.

"At least it's not falling from the sky"

Lera blocked out the rest of the world while thinking out loud "Ok, the driving is steady, so far not a chance of derailing, I'll climb in, put the shift stick in neutral and let the gear wear itself out, it'll slow it down" and just then a tire exploded making the truck lose control and zigzagging dangerously "great" she looked down, her head racing to find a solution she hadn't used thus far. It was highly flammable, so no heat vision… well she needed the opposite then. So she inhaled deeply before trying to use her ice breath, but nothing happened, she didn't even had the strength to create great winds like Kara "so, that's a no"

"No chilly breath" Barry said watching from the console "and no strong lungs either"

"She never tried to use them before, I guess those are some of the few abilities that weren't transferred" Kara mused out loud.

"She'll have to gamble it without those, then"

Lera ran towards the truck making sure there was not a driver inside to save before going from behind the wagon and pulling instead of standing in front of it to stop it, knowing she would probably just get run over if she did. But she didn't have the strength to make into a full stop, it was going too fast. She was wearing herself out without any results, so she let go to instead try to disconnect the cargo from the non-stopping engine, she wasn't about to risk the whole thing tipping over. Once she was able to pull them apart she left the cargo in a safe place and just race to the rolling truck to get it to stop.

"Not how I would have handled it, but points for the unconventional method" Flash applauded.

Lera smiled tiredly "Thanks, I didn't went for the practical or fastest choice but the safest" she was about to catch her breath when the next scenario came crushing down on her, literally. A building was collapsing right before her eyes.

She didn't have a second to calculate before going in and putting her back into it, using all her strength to keep it from tilting down. The skyscraper was pushing her down, her footing sliding as heavy sweat ran down her face.

"Come on! Come on!" she told herself barely managing to open her eyes and try to come up with a plan other than pure brute force.

"Her heart beat is going off the charts" Caitlin said "her blood pressure is spiking up"

"Ok, lil' Super Luthor, you can call it quits now, that's one heavy building" Cisco said into the microphone.

"No" came the teeth gritted response "if it were a real mission, I would have to solve it, even without full strength"

"I would fly in to assist if it were the case, you can let go now, Lera" Kara said "no shame in retrieving"

"People would die if I let go"

"Lera" Lena cut in "no going head first into danger, remember?"

"I know, I know, just give me 30 seconds" she chewed the words back feeling how her knee bended down hitting hard on the floor breaking the concrete "Rao" she clenched her jaw looking up at the structure using her x-ray vision "ok, don't turn the program off"

Taking a deep breath she slide back before jumping up and breaking through the window pulling out iron bars from the skyscraper to put them in the ground to hold the structure just long enough for her to go to the opposite side and will her heat vision to make a whole on the ground for the building to start tilting in the other way, once she found balance, she started to melt the metal into the concrete to leave it steady.

After her display, she collapsed on the floor gasping for air "Now, I'm done" she announced while seeing the image of a plane heading for her "End Course" she closed her eyes letting go of the tension as the plane dissolved into nothingness.  
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"Slow down, there. Small bites, you are going to bite off a finger like that" Lena chuckled.

"Sorry" Lera cleaned her mouth with a napkin before unwrapping the third burger "I was really starving" she explained apologetically.

"Well, it makes sense now why you were eating so much lately" Kara ruffled up her hair making the girl giggle in return.

"If a powered up person could eat by twelve, a teen powered up person was sure to raise the bar a notch" Iris chuckled slurping into her soda.

"A growing Kryptonian with growing powers, we might have to end up buying Big Belly Burger's franchise back home" Kara joked making Lena blush, since she was known to make that kind of purchases, truth being told, she had considerate getting her favorite food chain for a while now.

"We'll see if you behave" Lena countered taking a bite of her fries.

"In the meantime, thanks for buying" Barry said as he reached for his fifth burger "you are a lifesaver"

"Please, is the least I could do" Lena smiled "especially since my girls are always eating more than half of everything you order for takeout"

Iris and Barry shared a knowing smile but said nothing "Still, deeply appreciated" he wolf down his burger.

Lena tried to get a bite out of hers, but the paper got in the way, it was hard to do so many things with only her off hand "Gee" she said under her breath struggling with the task.

"Here, allow me" Kara put the paper aside getting the burger towards her mouth for Lena to chew.

After swallowing the Luthor smiled "Thanks"

Kara picked a napkin and cleaned the ketchup on the edge of her mouth "welcome" she smiled in her own adorable way while she stared fondly at her.

"So, how long have you two been-?" Cisco felt a kick in the shin "raising Lera?"

"Oh? Um…little over half a year?" Lena calculated.

"More or less" Kara nodded.

"Great!" he smirked tightly feeling several glares from his team "and, um? Why did you choose the name Lera? Is that from any of your mother's names?" he asked trying to redirect the chat.

"I chose it" the teen answered naturally, eating her fries "It is my mothers' names" she gulped down with a drink of soda completely unfazed, not even aware of all eyes on her "Half and half. Lena and Kara. At the time Mom didn't know Kara was Supergirl, but I took it anyways" she raised her shoulders nonchalant "And since I was living with Lena back then I just took her last name too" she giggled "I basically adopted myself" she admitted finally gazing up to notice all those intense eyes piercing through her, somehow she didn't like how sympathetic and borderline patronizing they seemed.

"I see" Cisco was the first to break the silence "That's, umm? That's nice, lil' Luthor-El" he tried a new nickname "Getting to honor both parts"

"Thanks…that was the reason behind it" Lera looked over at her DNA donors; they seemed kind of fragile and maybe even a bit ashamed? She couldn't quite piece together why that had been their reaction.

Luckily, a very welcome distraction appeared as Wally dashed in "The Wall-Man is here!"

"You are late" Iris chuckled "which it's pretty impressive all things considerate"

"I'm sorry but I still have a whole education in front of me" he immediately took one of the dozen burgers that were lying around "plus, dad got me on cleaning duty" he sat next to Lera "Sorry I missed your training, I bet it was pretty awesome"

"Well, I did scrap my knee while holding a building, so that goes to show I don't have unbreakable skin, but I did fire heat vision today" she smiled hugely.

"Nice" he smirked in a relaxed manner "what about your other skills?"

"Well, no ice breath" she made a frown "but that's fine it's not a power that comes in handy very often"

"We'll see about that in summertime" Kara teased.

"Hey, if you aren't too tired I can help you out with speed later on today" Wally suggested trying to sound laid-back.

"That'd be fun" Lera nodded eagerly.

"Do you mind if I take it from here?" Wally asked the now and then fastest man alive.

"Have a good time" he smirked back.

"Great!" he tried to play it cool "sure, I'll show you how it's done"

"Stay out of trouble, ok?" Iris added not being fully convinced of her brother's good judgment at times.

He rolled his eyes smirking nonetheless "sure"  
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Few hours later the young heroes had gone for a run and now Star Labs was mostly quiet.

Cisco was with Caitlin analyzing Lera's stats sharing them with Kara while Iris got some of her day job done. Lena on the other hand was trying to text her secretariat with a low level of difficulty.

Barry walked in finding Lena on her own "Hey" he greeted with his charming smile, the two hadn't had a lot of time to interact with each other so he made an effort to get to know the woman "what are you up to?"

"Oh, Mr. Ramon upgraded my phone so I could keep in touch with my own earth"

"Don't let Cisco hear you call him Mr. Ramon, that's his dad" Flash huffed "Who are you calling?" he tried not to sound too nosy.

"Work, making sure L-Corp and CatCo are running smoothly" she sighed before searching for another contact on her list "and Alex Danvers. I wanted an update, know if National City is alright without its heroes…and to tell her everything about Lera" she added "I know Kara wouldn't dare to say much to her sister about the latest events, but Alex is so caring of both that feel bad to leave her in the dark. She's always been a great help with Lera, ever since day one"

Barry looked away "Yeah…Kara mentioned something"

Lena offered an uncharacteristically timid smile "I can tell you are close"

"Who wouldn't be with someone like Kara?" he countered politely "she's a great friend; it's good to have others with the symbol on the chest around. She's one of the few friends I can keep without fearing something terrible might happen to her, since she's from afar and her invulnerability"

"I guess…she said it was easy to trust you for pretty much those same reasons" she smirked "but who wouldn't trust you?" she replied with his same words making him chuckle.

"Well, I'm glad she has someone like you on her own earth. It's hard enough to keep in touch, but knowing she has you it's reassuring"

"Likewise, Mr. Allen"

"Come on, you know you can call me Barry. After seeing how you reacted under pressure making that electromagnetic wave to save us all, you've pretty much earned to know everyone's secret identities in this dimension. I can introduce you to the Arrow"

"Kara doesn't mention him often" Lena shrugged "But…I think I'd rather let the people behind the mask tell me about it themselves…knowing someone's identity was kind of what got us in this mess on the first place, the reason we had to escape our reality for a bit"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I- did someone threatened you?"

"No, nothing of the sort" Lena calmed him "No, Kara's cousin…"

"You met the Man of Steel?!"

"No, I met the journalist, he didn't take it kindly when I called him by his real name" she sighed down "How much do you know about the Luthor last name, Barry?"

He scratched the back of his neck "Not much?"

"No surprise Kara wouldn't tell you" she looked outside the window "My brother tried to kill Superman, sometimes with scarily close calls" she added under her breath "so when he heard that his cousin not only told the sister of his archenemies his name but was also taking care of a teen clone with Luthor genes in her…he simply couldn't take it" she folded her arms looking down.

Barry gazed down as well "I'm sorry to hear that" he mumbled "I didn't know things were like that at home"

"It's fine, honestly. I'm more than used to being hated for a surname, but seeing Kara that hurt over what Superman said and did…I wasn't prepared for that" she found herself sharing quite a lot of her personal live with the speedster, he was just that trustworthy "I didn't want to drag her down as well with my family's dispute" she took a moment to allow a soft smile to settle at the memory "that's why when Lera not only named herself, but actually wanted to have my last name present I felt so overjoyed, validated even. If that ray of sunshine and pureness was willing to be affiliated to me, to be called a Luthor and be my daughter…I couldn't possibly be that damaged" she smiled softly "as heartbreaking as it sounds, she adopted herself into our lives when we were the most scared of it. When she called me mom for the first time she gave me the courage to admit out loud that I loved her as my child, she is my child"

Barry laid a hand gently on her shoulder giving her light squeeze; just then the Luthor noticed some tears had slipped away.

"Sorry" she laughed dryly "I'm not usually like this"

"It's alright" he reached for a tissue to offer "I can see why Kara would try to defend you, even against the big man" he glanced with softness "I couldn't imagine a better person for Kara to share her life with, to raising Lera with" he tentatively wrapped his arms around her "thank you, Lena Luthor"

Lena gasped aback choking on her own tears before giving in into the embrace.  
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"Ok Kara, Lera shows a 20% increment on her strength and about 30% on her resistance to injury, so that's a great sign but she doesn't get power back with sun as much as you do, so she can't withstand a lot of damage. Her bones are just barely stronger than average, so the suit L-Corp made definitely has to be kept around" Caitlin listed showing her the charts.

"That's great, thank you" she took a look before hearing some giggles getting away "Rao, where are they going?" she asked out loud.

"Who?" Cisco asked confused.

"I can hear Lera getting away" she informed "With Wally"

"So they are taking a joy ride" Iris walked in chuckling "don't worry, my brother might be rash, but he's a good hero. Plus, he tends to forget that his suit has a tracker" she pushed a button "They are downtown, we can keep an eye from here so they'll be fine"

"I hope they don't get in trouble, I wouldn't want your dad to arrest her for a second time, for all our sakes"

Iris laughed noticing how truly concerned Kara was "They are going to be fine! They are teens hanging out in hero style, I think it's great. Wally doesn't get to hang much with others his age because he invests most of his time being Kid Flash"

Kara pondered at it, remembering what Lena had told her before, about getting Lera into school because she didn't actually had friends her age either "I guess you are right"


	13. Chapter 13

"I can hear Lera getting away" Kara informed "With Wally"  
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Both teens speed up running through the city until stopping in an alley hidden from the rest of the people. They were laughing uncontrollably.

"You really have gotten faster!" Wally exclaimed happily.

"Still not as fast as you, but getting there"

Wally chuckled "You have other great powers too"

Lera smiled taking the compliment "Thanks"

"Hey! You know what's one cool thing you can do with super speed? At least until you can fly"

Lera's eyes lighted up not only by the mention of the ability, but the conviction in his tone that she was going to be able to do it "What?"

"See that building over there?" he pointed at a 25 story structure.

"Yes?"

"Well, check this out" he raced towards it running at high speed against the walls, getting to the roof. He then waved from the top "Come one! It's your turn!" he half shouted knowing her hearing will pick up his voice.

Lera looked up, it was really high.

"You can do it!" Wally yelled encouragingly while taking his back pack off waiting for her.

Lera breathed in getting on her mark, taking a moment to let the adrenaline kick in and began to sprint towards the offices. The first step she took against the side of the building felt awkward and she almost slipped, but kept on pushing without daring to look down or slow even for a split of a second. About to reach the top she miscalculated her step since there was a riel and her foot hit it, so she was that sure she was going to fall, but instead a hand caught her pulling her up.

"Got ya!" Wally said getting her to safety "close call, although I'm pretty sure you would have landed perfectly"

"I'm trying to avoid unnecessary risks" Lera replied apologetically.

"Then it's a good thing I was here" he grinned smartly "But now, let's enjoy the view" he pulled out a bag of chips and some sodas "here, take your pick" he offered her first before getting some candy out as well.

"Thanks!" She received them gladly, lately her sweet tooth had been more present than ever and she was hungry all the time, luckily Wally knew the feeling all too well.

"So tell me, how's your world like?" He asked taking his first sip.

"Very similar to this one and at the same time completely opposite?" She grimaced "it looks like this but feels…warmer" she shrugged "it might have to do with the fact we get powered with the sun and this system has slight variations"

"Might be" Wally agreed "but I think your real home will always feel warmer, more welcoming" he reflected remembering allowing Iris and Joe into his life.

"Have you ever been into my earth?" Lera asked curiously, taking a bite of chocolate.

"Nah, junior associates weren't allowed or asked to join dangerous missions, closest thing I got from that action was when they invaded my sister's wedding"

"At least you got to be there with all those heroes, the legends" she traced back.

"Yeah, they were cool, but let's admit it, all they see is a kid, it's right in the name"

Lera sighed "I understand that" she mumbled "I love being with Supergirl, mom is amazing and having her share of DNA is great but…I am not her. I am not Lena either, I was engineered based on them but I am an individual and just being called a sidekick or Supergirl's girl makes me feel like…I am no one on my own, just the sum of the parts they gave me"

Wally stared at her surprised, he never thought the youngest girl of steel would felt like that "Sorry"

Lena shook her head "you didn't do anything wrong"

"I did, I mean… I too looked at you as Supergirl's assistant, as her hero replica, her-"

"Clone?"

"Yeah" he mumble ashamed "it didn't occur to me you might want to outrun the shadow of her cape as well…believe me, sometimes being compared next to the Flash is no fun either"

Lena smiled fondly "Thank you, Wally"

He returned the gesture "Hey, we misfits have to stick together" he chuckled.

Lera was going to say something else when suddenly her hearing caught a sound "there was a shot" she said immediately "two men are arguing, a woman is pleading"

"Where?" Wally got up putting his mask on.

"I think five blocks from here" she calculated.

"There's an alley in that direction" he began to plan his route "come on!"

"What? No! I promised to stay out of trouble and I can't get involved in police affairs after punching a cop, your father won't be happy "

"That's fine, just come with me and watch my eight" he asked "I'll make an easy entrance and a quick scape" he insisted givig her an ear piece.

Lera hesitated for a moment before nodding "Ok" she pulled Cisco's glasses out covering her eyes to avoid being recognized and to control her powers "let's go"

Wally nodded running first to lead the way. Once there he immediately grabbed the gun a man was pointing at the woman's head and tossed it away with no more bullets on.

"It's speedy" the other robber grunted.

"Kid Flash" he corrected half annoyed "and you guys should have figured out by now how much trouble you are in"

"I can see another armed man behind the door" Lera warned into the com as a third attacker came out in a hurry hogging a bag "you were supposed to be in the getaway car!" He screamed.

"Getaway?" Wally questioned getting the man to notice him while the speedster recognized that was no ordinary alley but the back exit of a jewelry store "Lera, look around for a vehicle" he asked looking around which gave the last robber a window of opportunity which he promptly used to fired at him before making a run for it. Wally simply evaded the bullet ready to chase after him when he heard the woman yell in pain, the missed bullet pinned on her shoulder.

"Damn it" he mumbled aiding the woman letting the man get away "Lera!" He screamed "I need your help"

The Super teen ran next to him "I can take her to a hospital"

"No, I got her, you make sure they don't go anywhere" he pointed at the car that was driving on the opposite direction at full speed.

"What?! But-!"

"Fire at his tires!"

Lera focused her heat vision trying to muster a blast that ultimately resulted in a huge combustion that blew the tires to bits almost tipping the car over. She then ran to them pulling the door open with a yank, tearing it apart.

"Stop right there!" She ordered while the men stumbled out completely lost and confused.

"You are not one of those lightning people" the leader complained while standing in front of her, throwing a punch that Lera easily dodged countering his attack thanks to all the training Alex had given her, before he knew it, he was face down in the ground "Who are you?" He asked astounded.

Lera swallowed unable to actually answer something, she couldn't say Supergirl's apprentice and she didn't actually had a name of her own "I am…"

"Something you've never seen before" Wally walked next to her "she's something else entirely" he knelt down in front of him taking the stolen jewels "welcome to the next level"  
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After getting the woman the medical attention she needed, making sure the robbers were tied up for the police to find and that the stolen goods were returned, both young heroes headed back to Star Labs grinning widely.

"Hey, I'd say we make a pretty good team" Wally commented taking his mask off.

"Yeah, not bad for junior associates" she joked feeling really at ease with him.

"And we got away with it" he said a moment too soon before the door opened up and four people were standing in front of them with expectant looks.

"So, guess what video from a security feed just went viral" Barry said with his arms crossed.

The video had poor quality and it was in black and white for good measure, the only things that could be seen was Wally's light and two beams that pulverized the car's wheels. After that the image was too dark to properly see Lera, the only distinguishable trait was her body shape, that was in no way a giveaway of her identity. The fact that she tore the door apart was the only thing that raised suspicions among the public.

After playing it on repeat for a fifth time, Barry paused it.

"How did it got uploaded so fast?" Wally grumbled looking away.

"The man that was checking the security cameras had a blog, he thought of sharing his findings" Iris answered.

"Look, all this was my idea, I am the one that told Lera we should intervene, it was supposed to be way more discrete, but things escalated fast" Wally began.

"No, I agreed to it, I heard a gunshot and the voices, Wally was just showing me around when I picked up the sound of the hustling" Lera countered.

"In which ever case, the result is the same" Barry cut them off making them flinch.

"We are pretty impressed" Kara said taking by surprise the two teens "we were monitoring your position the whole time" she pointed at his hero insignia.

"And we think you acted accordingly" Lena praised "you assessed a situation, worked together, got the civilian attended and stopped the robbery with the least collateral possible"

"So you are saying…?" Wally traced back.

"That you did a good team, despite the circumstances"

"Well done"

Both youngsters looked into each others eyes before smiling broadly.  
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Kara put on her suit exhaling a bit nostalgic, that was their last day of proper training, just one more ability to go through and Lera was officially introduced to her new powers. Kara was beyond proud of all of Lera's achievements, not in a million years had she thought she would be a mother, let alone have a daughter as impressive and brilliant as Lera and be raising her with someone as exceptional as Lena.

She smiled to herself and reached for the Luthor's door.

"Lena, we are going to the field to test her flying, are you ready?" Kara walked into her room finding her in the middle of getting her bandages changed while wearing a bare-shoulders blouse "Rao, sorry, I should have knocked"

"It's fine, Kara" the CEO smiled politely "I will be ready in a moment" she excused trying to unwrap her shoulder.

"How's-how's that healing?" Kara kept her eyes averted.

"It's alright, it's just the fabric, it's starting to itch a lot, I want to let my skin breathe a little" she explained grunting at the end "it simply has been a bit challenging getting there" she chuckled despite herself.

"I can help" Kara turned around going to her side taking the white fabric from her hands and removing it gently.

"You don't have to-"

"I want to, we are a team, you help me all the time" she smiled in the adorable way that makes Lena wonder how she couldn't recognize before that Kara was Supergirl "You patched me up the last time, remember? And other than Alex, you are the only one that has stitched me"

"Yeah, I remember " Lena smiled at the memories that seemed lives away.

"Rest your hand on my shoulder so I can go around your arm" Kara instructed allowing the Luthor to do so leaving them directly face to face "you can squeeze if you feel pain" she offered "I won't feel it"

"Thank you"

Once the bandages were off, Kara could see the damage in her skin, even with all the help from the machines, there were nasty marks present and it was clear how wounded she really was, even if Lena denied it.

"Lena…" Kara mumbled sorrowfully.

"It's fine" she whispered back.

"Stay still" she instructed before blowing softly into her skin letting her ice breath sooth a bit of the irritation and pain. Lena sighed softly feeling the relieve.

"That felt nice" she shivered easing up "thank you"

Kara giggled goofily "I can always kiss it better" she leaned in landing her lips on a silky kiss on her collarbone, trying to avoid the most scarred part. Kara rested for a second in the welcoming warmth that reminded her of her planet's sun, letting her eyelids close gently. But just then she became aware of Lena's soft gasp at the contact, the sudden way her heartbeat raced in her chest and how her hand clenched at her shoulder. She noticed how her skin was burning up and Kara felt her own face heat up as well at the realization. She pulled away in the least hectic manner she could to avoid hurting her and gazed into emerald eyes, her mouth hanging helplessly open with nothing coming out of it.

"We are ready to go!" Barry yelled from the hallway pulling them out of their trance.

"We should…"

"Yeah, let's go"

They broke their gazes apart like nothing ever happened.  
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Lera breathed in feeling the nervousness swirl through her, she was excited and ready.

"Ok, so last power" Cisco said into the com "there goes nothing"

"But remember, don't be disappointed if you don't get it at first" Caitlin said knowing how much flying meant to the girl "we left it at the end to test it more broadly"

"Got it" Lera loosen up "so how do we proceed?"

"Well, since we can't get to the top of a building and drop you from there without raising a few brows from pedestrians, we are going to replicate the scenario you first felt that power kicking in"

"So, run Lera, run" Cisco laughed curtly.

Lera chuckled back getting in position.

"Just keep in mind, if you loose altitude get back into running, no crash landing this time" Kara said squeezing her shoulder.

"Yes mom" Lera dragged the word teasingly getting her hair messed up in return.

"Well, get moving then, young lady" she patted her back pushing her foward.

Lera nodded starting to sprint through the dessert leaving a cloud of dust behind herself as she speeded up. Once she felt her steps light and swift, she began to take little jumps that sent her far but not high enough to be airborne.

"Ok, that's good, lil Luthor-El, keep pushing the limits one bit at a time" Cisco instructed monitoring her stats "your brain is showing some activity in parts that don'tusually light up, so you are waking up the right stimulation, keep going" he praised.

Lera took a higher jump feeling weightless, when she looked down she felt the world stop for a moment, she was suspended up there before gravity took a toll at her again. She landed abruptly and kept on running just to take another hop that reached a significant altitude that unbalanced her posture, she leaned too far back starting to fall backwards.

Wally ran taking a jump to catch her in arms and drive her into a smooth descent "Got ya" he smiled at her still holding her bridal style "was it going to hurt to fall from heaven?" He asked in a sly and mocking manner.

"Of course not, I was going to land on my feet" she tapped into his chest teasingly as well "but I appreciate the assist"

Wally huffed "Anytime, Girl wonder"

Lera smirked back letting go of his neck "Thanks, Wally" she stood up dusting herself up.

Supergirl landed softly next to them "ok Lera, we need a new approach" she instructed "if you need to stabilize extend your arms to the front, that breaks the wind and prevents you from loosing direction, but before getting there we need to keep you in the air" she stretched her arm out "let's go, inah"

Lera's face lit up in a way Kara didn't thought possible. The teen was not only glad her kryptonian mother was inviting her to a flight, which was rare on it's own, but she just had called her 'daughter' in her own language for the first time. It felt like a rite of passage, like after getting all those kryptonian powers she was now really worthy of her alien heritage.

She grabbed her hand still dubious, like if that was a dream or an illusion that could fade away.

Kara smiled encouragingly knowing how awestruck Lera was by the offer "hold on tight"

Lera didn't hesitate and embraced Kara strongly nesting into her chest, her heart fluttering like a little bird.

Kara couldn't help but to kiss her head and wrap her arms around her "ok, off we go" she mumbled gaining altitude until they were several feet up in the air "look down now" she instructed and her daughter sneaked around.

Kara grabbed her under her shoulders putting some distance "I am not letting go" she assured "but try to feel the air, its movement, the way it sways and dance with it"

Lera closed her eyes focusing in the mere sensation of being suspended up there, the breeze on her hair, how weightless and liberating that felt.

"Now, imagine that something in your chest wants to be set free, fly away, reach for the sun and then try to follow that drive" Kara whispered and Lera felt a jolt walking up her spine, when she opened her eyes she noticed Supergirl was now barely grabbing her forearms to keep her steady, but she was indeed levitating on her own.

She held on tight looking down, that was the highest she had ever been without her suit on, the idea of falling from that altitude suddenly frightened her.

"Hey, hey, it's ok, I am right here, I won't let anything bad happen to you" Kara cooed softly, receiving one of Lera's most earnest looks in return.

"Thanks, mom"

Kara smiled softly feeling moved by that innocence and wonder in her daughter's eyes.

"Now, whenever you feel ready, let go of one of my hands"

Lera knitted her brows loosening the grip on her left hand sliding away from her fingers and holding into dear life with the other. Kara chuckled at this and began to fly calmly to the right guiding her. Lera lost her balance now and then knowing Supergirl would be there to support her.

"Ready to fly on your own?" Kara asked with a huge smile.

Lera matched her expression even if fear hid behind her eyes. Taking a deep breath she let go and began to fidget around to try and find a suitable position to levitate. Now and then loosing altitude before pushing up again. Whenever she started to dive, Supergirl would reach for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to keep her from falling.

Lera's face was flushed as she giggled uncontrollably, finally accomplishing her dream, she was flying and not only that, she was doing so with her own mother. As time passed by, the half kryptonian began to grow more confident even daring to speed up and do a couple of swirls in the air.

"Hey, take it easy, little rocket" Kara chuckled catching her in arms after one of her acrobatics. Lera just smiled in return "you are really flushed and sweaty, aren't you exhausted?"

"I am just a little light headed"

"Let's go down then"

"No, no, I am fine" Lera assured not wanting the fun to be over.

"We can always do this again, but we shouldn't exert your powers, flying takes a lot of energy and you are still half human, your time spam in the sky is bound to be a little shorter than mine. So let's go to the ground so you can tell everyone about it"

Lera smirked nodding in understanding "ok, mom" she hugged her tightly "thank you for doing this with me"

"Of course, inah" she kissed her head "I love you"


	14. Chapter 14

Those are some impressive designs" Caitlin said out loud working side by side with the Luthor, but Lena didn't say anything back. Instead she was absently caressing her shoulder, her mind roaming in the memory, trying to piece something, a feeling that escaped her grasp "is your burn hurting?" Caitlin pulled her out of her thoughts "you've been reaching for it quite often, if it's bothering you we can apply some medication"

Lena felt her ears warm up after being caught doing that movement "No, it's quite fine. I'm sorry, I just got lost in thought for a moment there" she cleared her throat "so, do you think we can apply those changes into Lera's suit using your earth's technology?"

"I'd say it's very doable" she tapped into her computer showing the design at the big screen "I have to say, it's a very impressive idea, how did it occur to you?" The scientist asked.

"Well, after the analysis showed us Lera doesn't absorb sunlight as quickly or efficiently as Kara, I began to consider alternatives to make up for that and I recalled the submarine suit we saw at the expo, if they could harvest the oxygen from plankton to allow the diver to breath, why couldn't I do the same with sun?"

"So you made a suit that in every fiber has a minuscular solar panel that can transfer what it harvest into Lera's skin, so she can absorb it, sort of a concentrated vitamin"

Lena chuckled "Yeah, something like that. A parent has to make sure their kids have a balanced diet" she joked along looking at the design "but the game changer is getting your tech in. Barry's suit withstand incredible amounts of friction and damage, so applying that into the solar panels will ensure they don't break or stop working" she observed the blueprints.

"As I see it, it will be ready for a test run in just a couple of hours" Caitlin tapped into her computer as the machines started working.  
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Lera laughed at one of Wally's hero stories as they walked into Star Labs after getting some ice cream. They had spent a lot of time together working as a team, sometimes even taking on minor criminals that popped in the street.

"You have to promise that one day you'll visit me at my earth" Lera asked

"Yeah, sure, absolutely" he smirked finishing his cone.

"There you guys are" Cisco interrupted "we are ready for you, Lera" he informed "the suit is complete and the stage is yours" he chanted doing a grand gesture to point her into the lab "go do your thing Super Jr."

Lera breathed in feeling an ocean of emotions swirling through "yeah, I'm ready" she said more to herself than Cisco.

Once they handed her the new uniform she went to change, looking at herself in the mirror. She could tell part from part what she had inherited from Lena and what belonged to Kara, but she wasn't really either of them. She knew she was different, even if it didn't look like it.

She messed her hair up staring at her reflection before singling one lock of hair to consider a spontaneous idea that popped into mind. She recalled Stephanie's haircut, it was short and framed her face, Lera truly had liked how it looked on her. But that was someone's else style as well, so an unlikely idea came to mind and a smile filled her lips. Her eyes started to glow while her heat vision was aimed at the mirror and she cut her hair.  
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"I can't believe you have to go tomorrow" Barry mentioned "it has been terrific having you with us" he said.

"This trip was just what we needed" Kara admitted "it makes me kind of sad it's almost over"

"Hey, your are always welcome"

"Likewise" she smiled brightly.

"Hey Lee! You almost done?" Wally called from the hallway. The door opened like if answering the question as Lera walked inside in a smooth black uniform that looked made out of tiny scales due to the solar panels that reflected the light. There was no symbol on her chest to display and the only real design in the suit were some lines that followed the shape of her body. But the suit was just barely stared at, what caught their eye was her new look. Her hair fell over her right shoulder just above the chin and followed a diagonal line that reached to the longest buckles of hair. The teen smiled in a way that was both endearing and shy.

"Wow" Wally said as the rest took a moment for the surprise to settle in "you look really badass"

Lera smirked more confidently at that "Thanks"

"I like your style" Cisco raised a hand giving her a high five, an action Wally had introduced her to a couple of days prior.

Lera then looked at her mothers, whom were by far the most shocked ones "what do you think?"

Lena was the first to offer a smile "as long as you like it, I love it" she said "It has attitude and I know you are meant to stand out, I'm glad you are not afraid to do just that in your own way"

Lera's eyes were now on Kara and the kryptonian knew it "I mean, it's different for sure and nothing I would do but…you look unique" Kara said "it's great that you express yourself" Lera nodded tugging a smile on the side of her mouth by the approval.

"That being said" Barry cut in "time to do one final training"  
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Lera stood under the sun facing towards the sky. She let the suit get soaked under the rays and felt how that began to feed her strength. Once ready she took a deep breath and concentrated in that drive pulling her towards the clouds and jumped as high as she could, reaching the sky. When she got comfortable with the altitude, she did a swirl before flying freely.

"Ok Lera, settle down, the mission will start now"

"It's a challenge of all your powers, so anything can happen, be alert lil' Super-Luthor" Cisco reminded her.

"Understood" she gave a thumbs up waiting for her fist encounter. She immediately felt a jolt on her back as some rays were fired at her from behind. She turned around to find a bot firing. She swiftly evaded noticing how many others began to appear and she counterattacked most of them before flying circles around them so they would fire among themselves.

"Nicely done"

"Let's change the pace a little then" Cisco pressed a button and suddenly huge torches of fire were on the ground "let's see how you solve that without ice breath"

Lera assessed the situation before trying to fly circles around it with little success , she wasn't as fast flying. So she landed harshly before running hoops in hopes of taking all air out and suffocate the flames.

"Last trial" Cisco informed as huge pieces of debris began to fall down "don't let that touch the ground or civilians would be hurt"

Lera used her x-ray vision to locate the weak point before firing her heat vbeames turning huge pieces of rocks into nothing more than dust. There were several of them and her head began to ache. She drove a hand to her temple wincing.

"Talk to us, Lera" Kara said noticing the gesture.

"Just a little light headed" she answered shrugging it off.

"Be careful, using too much your heat vision can drain you out, leave you powerless"

Lera nodded "ok" she changed her strategy, beginning to punch instead and flying around to catch the biggest pieces before throwing them into other blocks to destroy them simultaneously. Her suit not even getting a scratch out of the heavy lifting and punching. After finally finishing the task she descended feeling rather winded, she was used to the thrill, but usually having Supergirl to take over the more demanding and straining parts of the mission, now it had been all on her. As soon as she took her com out, a dash of blue and red tackled her in a big hug.

"You did a wonderful job!" Kara praised kissing her forehead "I am really proud of you, inah"

Lera rested on the embrace "thank you, mom"

The rest of the team reached them "All right!" Wally high-five her.

"It was a perfect mission" Caitlin complimented.

"Beyond perfect! That was super!" Cisco's eyes glowed with excitement patting her back.

"That finally concludes your training" Barry announced.

"Almost" Lera answered stretching her hand towards Lena "come on, mom. I want to fly with you. Before getting these powers, you were the first to give me a taste of that feeling, you worked so hard on my anti-gravity boots, it's my turn to show you what soaring is like" she smiled sweetly at her "but I might need your help" she turned towards Kara "I'll take one hand if you take the other, just to make sure it's safe"

Both woman exchanged brief looks, a whole unspoken conversation lingering in their eyes, but looking back at their kid, they decided everything was worth it if the reward was that bright smile in Lera's face.

"I'll be honored" Lena took her hand giving it a tight squeeze before turning towards Kara. The Super clasped at her own hands for a moment before offering her palm for Lena to take.

Barry smiled softly "We'll let you enjoy some quality time, see you back at the Labs?"

"Of course" Kara said, a hint of nervousness on her tone as she watched them leave.

"Actually, mom" Lera said to Kara noticing how she was grabbing Lena's hurt arm "you might want to wrap an arm around her waist, so you don't strain her skin"

Kara felt a breath caught on her throat "right…good thinking" she looked at Lena with an almost apologetical glance reaching for her. She was used to hug Lena and offer comfort and support, so why now was she so flustered about it?

"Ready?" Lera asked excitedly ready to take off.

"On your command"

The teen smiled "Let's go then"

The sky opened up for them as they reached height, looking at everything from above. Lena couldn't help the foreign feeling that tickled in the base of her stomach as she looked down, nor the sweatiness in her fingertips. She instinctively squeezed tighter just to be sooth in return.

"Hey, it's ok" Kara mumbled noticing the Luthor's expression "let her know you trust her"

Lena was awestruck for a moment and about to retort, of course she trusted Lera, but then she understood what the Super meant. Taking a deep breath, she let go of the tension on her shoulders and relaxed to be driven through the sky.

Lera was so immerse on the flight, looking up and down and back at them, pointing at things like the shape of clouds, how everyone seemed so small from above and such. It was the first time in a while the three of them had done something together that didn't involve the medical bay, and no one had known how much that was needed until it happened.

"Isn't this perfect?" Lera asked shining her brightest smile.

Lena looked at her kid and then towards the other kryptonian that kept her from falling "it is" she said fondly resting more comfortably against Kara's shoulder "I trust you too, always" she mumbled and the Girl of Steel felt her chest pound harder.  
________________________________

Once back into Star Labs, they received them with balloons, confetti and a table set with food.

"Congratulations!" The whole team Flash cheered receiving them.

"Hey, what's all this?" Kara asked grinning.

"This is the very definition of last minute surprise party" Barry chuckled.

"Wally thought we should celebrate Lera's graduation and ran to the store to get all of this together" Iris explained.

"Thank you" Lera hugged him.

"Hey, you've earned it" he embraced her back.

"And… we were thinking" Barry wrapped his arm around his wife " we should do something tonight, all together, something other than hero work, just hang out since you go back home tomorrow"

Kara looked over her shoulder to see if Lena was on board, upon seeing her smirk, she knew "What did you had in mind?"

"Well, since it would be unfair to play trivia since Lena and Lera are certified geniuses" Barry teased lightly "Iris suggested something else…"

All eyes landed on her as she smiled "tune up, we are going to the karaoke tonight"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I entice someone to make a drawing of Lera with that haircut? ;P


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The storm is comming...

"Well, since it would be unfair to play trivia since Lena and Lera are certified geniuses" Barry teased lightly "Iris suggested something else…"

All eyes landed on her as she smiled "tune up, we are going to the karaoke tonight"

___________________________

Their laughter was drowned down by music and chatter. Their song selection was by far the longest on the place that night, their table the loudest and most definitely they were having the greatest time.

"So which song is it going to be Wally? Run Devil Run?" Barry mocked.

"Har-har" he rolled his eyes "the title sounded promising, I was just curious" he shrugged before looking at Lera "you've decided what to sing yet?"

"I don't know many song other than musicals and opera" she admitted.

"Our bad" said Kara chuckling.

"Hey, good of a time as any to find out what you like" he pointed, reminding her of their chat.

She smiled widely "ok, let's go" she grabbed his wrist pulling them to the stage.

"And there they go" Iris giggled taking a sip of her drink "Lera is really taking a liking into singing"

"At least I am glad she inherited your vocals and not mine" Lena huffed elbowing Kara in the ribs.

"You've barely taken the stage, how can I judge if that's a good thing?" Kara countered.

"Trust me, it is" the Luthor chuckled taking her drink.

"I hope our kids take after you as well" Iris cuddled under Barry's shoulder.

"I don't know, I really like your singing" he leaned down to kiss her "plus, Joe has a great voice too, so" he felt the playful nudge and laughed in his goofy way.

As soon as the teens began singing together a duet, all four adults watched the show excitedly, they both looked so at ease, relaxed and joyful together. A weird and great dynamic flowing, they simply clicked as a team. By the time they went back to the table, they were all clapping.

"Well done guys" Barry praised.

"Thanks" they sat down still grinning.

The waiter approached them "your song is up next" he said to Iris

"I didn't book another song" She replied confused.

"No, I did" Barry stood up "it's for you"

Iris melted away with his smile.

"It's a duet, actually, so" he smirked towards his friend "Kara, do you mind?"

The Girl of Steel smiled softly "My pleasure" she went to the stage with him "do I know the lyrics?" She asked.

"Well, I hope they have this version in your earth" he looked at Iris from afar and couldn't help but smile heartedly "because it means a lot"

Kara turned her sight to the table as well, fond emerald eyes gazing soothingly at her.

"Ready?" He asked clearing his voice getting a nod in return.

A guitar began to fill the room and Barry just beamed while singing the first part.

"Do you hear me? I'm talking to you" he began, filling the room with only his voice, everyone and everything else being drowned and quieted by his performance. Kara smiled before taking a solo herself, playing along, smirking at Barry, both having fun out of it, but the speedster broke apart first gazing directly into Iris' eyes to sincerely dedicate the next phrase.

"Lucky I'm in love with my best friend"

Kara felt moved and caught off guard by how much of his feelings he was pouring, he was really out there, no fear, no hesitation, simply speaking his truth, singing it out. Now it was Kara's turn to feel the meaning of the lyrics as a hard pang hit her chest.

"Lucky to been to where I have been" both sang and finally Kara looked into Lena's eyes "Lucky to be coming home again" that one word meant the world to Kara, she had lost her home more than once and now she felt like belonging, she was that lucky that whenever she saw those emerald eyes, she was indeed coming home again. She could only hope Lena knew that…

______________________________

The sun rose through the horizon promising a new day, although predicting a goodbye.

All bags were packed and now the only thing left to say was farewell. They had decided to part ways in the dessert, the space that allowed them one last friendly rally race and complete freedom to play around one last time.

"Remember Super Luthor, half of the battle is always won just by showing up, the rest is just skill and experience" Cisco hugged her goodbye "Gosh! All this time we spend together and I couldn't come up with a cool name you could actually use in combat" he scolded himself.

"I like the nicknames you gave me" Lera beamed "I'll make sure to go by them when I am in base at the DEO" she promised "Aunt Alex is going to love them"

"Ok, then" he smiled "take care, Luthor-El"

"Hey, don't forget you are one dimensional jump away if you ever want to team up again" Wally smiled.

"That goes both directions" she replied smartly "come visit sometime"

Wally smirked "will do"

"Well Barry, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate all you did for us" Kara started.

"Don't mention it, you are family" he extended his smile towards Lena "all of you"

"Guys, are you already opening a portal?" Caitlin's voice came from a com as she had stayed in Star Labs "I am getting some readings"

"Just about to" Cisco informed.

"Well, not to hurry you, but an alarm just went off, robbery downtown"

"I can get that for ya', Wally offered "you make sure they get home safe" he told Barry.

"I appreciate it man" he tapped his shoulder before the younger speedster dashed away after another brief farewell hug.

"I guess, this is goodbye then" Iris said tilting her head "I hope to see you all real soon"

"It would be our pleasure" Lena assured "and whatever plan Star Labs might have in the future, L-Corp would be more than thrilled to collaborate"

"That'd be so cool" Cisco said awestruck.

"See you on the other side" Barry approached to hug Kara taking a moment to mumble into her hair "hey, you've got something special going on, don't loose sight of it"

Kara nodded wordlessly before hugging Iris.

Finally, Lera just looked up at the speedster "thank you" she launched forward to hug him "I am happy I got to meet you, Uncle Barry"

"Uncle Barry?" He repeated with a huge smile "I love the sound of that" he wrapped his arms around her "it was an honor to meet you as well"

Lera just tugged a shy smile "Hey, maybe next time we can visit Oliver Queen? Do a team up?"

Barry frowned for a second "you know the Arrow?"

"Yeah, the same as I knew you"

That's when something started clicking for Kara, a buried thought that hadn't surfaced in the last six months "wait, Lera…when you said you were happy you had meet Barry you didn't mean it as a first introduction, you meant it as in a…"

"A memory" she finished her sentence "well, not a memory, per say, but as part of your experiences. I don't have your recollection of events, but the information was there. You knew Barry and Oliver and others, therefore, so did I"

And that's when true terror filled Kara's eyes "oh no" she muttered a moment too late as a bright burst of light exploded right before them.

Lera didn't have even a second to registered what was going on before she was punched in the gut by a new arrival that send her flying across the dessert.

"Lera!" Both parents turned to look at her direction before a shot was fired by a second individual, bringing Supergirl to her knees as a kryptonite bullet hit her side.

"Kara!" Lena knelt at her side to then face the attacker, all her rage and fury was quickly substituted by shock and fear "L-Lex?"

"Hello, Lena" he said from inside a Meka suit that glowed a bright green. Kryptonite "I hope you don't mind that I dropped by"

"Get away from them!" Barry ran towards him before being blasted by a freeze ray that paralyzed him long enough for Lex to throw him into the dessert.

"Iris, get out of here" Kara said looking up ready to give her all against him, but the older Luthor didn't plan to fight her himself. He snapped his fingers and Lex's companion threw a punch at Supergirl. The hit was in no way as strong as her own, but due to the kryptonite wound, Kara ended up face on the ground.

"Well done my boy" Lex praised at the young man that stood tall beside him. His eyes clear blue, his face strong, his hair dark "now go for the girl" Lex commanded as the teen ran towards Lera, who was barely getting back into her senses when he pinned her to the floor punching her repeatedly.

Lera found his pattern and caught his next hit allowing herself a brief instant to look upon his face and register who this person was. She thought her vision was damaged, that she was indeed seeing double, but soon she recognized that her memories were pulling out to images simultaneously to piece out who he was. He was the perfect mix of two people as well…

"Clark? Lex?" She asked confused and the sight of the Boy of Steel. And what she got in return was an angered expression that soon turned out in another beatdown that Lera had to fight off.

Lex walked towards his sister looking down on her as she was aiding Kara.

"I hope you don't mind I copied your homework, but don't worry, I changed some of the answers so no one could tell" he chuckled dryly "I took mother's notes on her little project and made some adjustments to create my own personal weapon. After seeing your success with Supergirl's little sidekick, I figured I should give it a shot too"

"How did you followed us here?" Lena asked winning some time for another hero to make an appearance, but to her surprise, it was Kara who answered through greeted teeth.

"Because I knew" she said looking up in a mix of pain and shame "I knew about the multiple earths, about Barry and his team…when Lilian took my genetic material the information was already there, I never thought to consider what your mother might have gained out of my experiences"

Lex smiled devilishly "very well, Supergirl. Sadly you just realized that half a year later, so, thank you for giving me enough time to do all this" he gestured at his suit "when I got the reading of your little trip to this dimension it gave me the last piece I needed to recognize the frequency, so I sent some scouts to test the waters, see what the new world had to offer, get some weapons"

"The robbery at the expo" Lena muttered "Lera was right, she just confused the doppelgänger"

"But you doubted her" Lex mocked dryly "just like mother doubted you, guess it runs in the family" he jabbed walking closer, making Kara wince in pain from all the kryptonite "Not that it will matter anymore" he yanked Lena away from the Super "time to go home, sister. We have a family reunion to attend to" he opened his portal as Kara fought to get up just to notice the barrel pointed at her head "sorry, no plus one to this event" he was going to enter his portal when it was close shut.

"No so fast bald guy!" Cisco appeared wearing his gear "Iris called, I've got Barry, time for us to go"

"Ah, the tech guy of this dimension" Lex let go of Lena to prepare his counterattack, but Cisco didn't plan to stay long enough to see it. A yellow blur dashed taking Lena into the portal as Cisco assisted Kara.

"Help Lera" Lena told the young speedster.

"I will" he nodded solemnly running back into the dessert after making sure she was safe. It was easy for him to find his friend, the destruction and debris was clue enough. Lera was on the receiving end of a beatdown, but something didn't add up for Wally. He had seen Lera train and fight, she had skill and wits, so why was she receiving the damage?

He charged against the attacker hitting him with all his might, tackling him hard, sending him yards away.

"I'm going after him" Wally grunted angrily.

"No" Lera groaned getting up holding her rib cage "don't engage"

Wally rapidly helped her steady herself "hey, you alright?"

"Yes" she tried to offer a reassuring smile that fell flat as she looked in the horizon for any signs of the boy.

That's when Wally pieced it together "you were holding back" he said and the shock look he got in return was affirmative enough "why?! He could have killed you"

"No, he wouldn't" she said resolved.

"Well, it sure looked like it!" Wally bite back "why aren't you fighting him?!"

Lera opened her mouth but nothing came out of it.

The sudden explosion at the distance pulled Wally out of the conversation "we better get out of here" he carried her, going to Star Labs with the others.

"Sorry, but what the heck was that?!" Cisco asked confused as they all reunited at the Control center.

"My brother" Lena said dryly aiding Caitlin to take the kryptonite bullet out of Kara "he figured out the jump"

"Mom!" Lera made her way to Kara "are you alright?"

"I am, inah" she flinched unwillingly "what about you?"

"Ye-yeah, just bruised" she clenched her fist.

"We need a plan" Barry said recovering from the blast that had him paralyzed.

As soon as the bullet was out, Kara stood up "we need to move"

"What?! You are in no condition to keep fighting" Iris cut in as Barry himself was getting ready.

"No, not to fight, we have to loose him, he will know where to look for us"

Suddenly all the computer screens turned on, projecting Lex "Now you are starting to think ahead, but still not fast enough" he smiled dangerously.

Kara walked to the screen "whatever you want to settle, let's go to our earth and solve it there, you have nothing to do in this dimension"

"Oh, on the contrary. Thanks to you, I think I'll stay for some weeks or months, who knows? Let's see the real state, is Star Labs on sale?"

"What could you possible be winning out of staying in another earth?" Lena asked with venom in her words.

"Me? Not much. But my Kr project…" he redirected the feed towards his clone "apparently being outside in the open is healthy for this breed" he said and Lera couldn't help her wince at the despicable name "your own pet got more powerful than ever just by breathing this air"

Lena automatically wrapped an arm around Lera shielding her "you are going to regret this, whatever you are planning, it's going to fail, as everything else you've tried"

"I don't think so, because, you see, I've learned from past mistakes. For example, when mother tried to take down the human DNA in your copy, it got her unstable, so I've corrected the formula" he showed some patches in the shape of a shield "red kryptonite that can suppress all its human DNA for eight hours at a time. So, as long as we are here and it wears those, it will develop all its powers, become even stronger than Superman" He gazed directly at them "Then I can go back home" he threatened.

Then the screen went black.

"No!" Kara slammed her fist into the table crushing the metal "we have to stop him before his clone gets powered up, or we stand no chance against him"

"Should we change locations?" Barry intervened "clearly he does know where we are at"

"He is toying with us" Lena replied "if he wanted to take us out, he would have attacked by now. He showed us his hand, he knows we are outmatched right now, he won't attack right away, he is enjoying this moment"

"Then we need to make a plan fast, every second they spend here is just giving them an upper hand"

"We need to cut his supplies" Caitlin said "make it strictly between you and just them, if he keeps bringing people in, you'll loose the advantage of being home" she told Barry.

"Right, I can work on a device to interfere all systems" Cisco said "like the electromagnetic wave Lena created, but just to disrupt this earths frequency. The only problem is we won't be able to get more backup either, so if you need to make a call and ask for reinforcements as well, do so now, before I close us in"

"Wait" Iris cut in "closing the portals would mean you wouldn't be able to go home either"

"Not until we stop him, no" Lena affirmed.

"It's not like we could leave you here with him, we'll stay for as long as he does, and we will stop him" Kara assure "but if we are going to start plotting, it's better that we do on a safe place" she looked at Barry.

"The cells, no feed can get there and there is lead, so he won't see or hear you"

"Ok, let's go" Kara looked at Lera with a very firm gesture. Lera hadn't felt so small since Supergirl shut her out six months ago.

__________________________________

"Who do you know from team Arrow?" Kara asked dryly.

"His support team" Lera answered.

"I need names"

"Oliver, Felicity, Digs" Lera replied unable to look her in the eye.

"So not a very updated list" Barry mumbled from the other side of the glass looking in next to the others.

"What do you know about the Legends?"

Lera winced "Not much?"

"Come on, give me specifics" Kara insisted.

"Leonard, Sarah, Rip" Lera began to list holding her temples to suppress an incoming headache.

Lena couldn't take that any longer, those migraines were her part of the DNA, she knew how much pressure Lera was under and more so, she knew the teen was trying to put a brave face on. So the Luthor walked into the room and grabbed Kara pulling her outside.

"Ok, enough"

"We need to know what we are against" Kara replied

"That was starting to become more of an interrogation room" Lena cut her short.

"I need information, see how much Lex knows" Kara countered.

"That right there is a human being, not a computer device, so stop using my daughter as an asset for your hero vendetta" Lena warned.

"She's my daughter too" Kara frowned.

"Well start showing that, not only on flights or missions" Lena jabbed "just how often does she feel comfortable calling you Mom other than when you have the boots and cape on?"

Kara was rendered speechless, at that time she would had gladly taken another kryptonite bullet if that meant feeling any other kind of pain than this, than hearing those words from Lena. The raven haired woman saw immediately how her words had really hurt the Super, but couldn't bring herself to amend anything.

Lera then decided to stop using her super hearing and covered her face fighting off the outside world. She left the room and walked through the hallway looking down just to find a pair of sneakers on her way.

"Hey" Wally said softly extending a soda can "want some?" He offered.

Lera gave a small smile taking it "thank you"

"Are you ok?"

Lera didn't answer as she assessed the situation "I am going to be, but…I need to do something first, maybe you can help me?"

"What do you need?"

"That you trust me" she said evenly looking him in the eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wounds have to be recognized before they can heal...


	16. Chapter 16

What do you need?" asked Wally resolved.

"That you trust me" Lera said evenly looking him in the eye.  
________________________________________________

Both teens geared up sneaking out after shutting down the motion detectors so no one would notice their absence until it was too late to stop them. They ran to the tallest building to have a better view of the city in the night time.

"So, how are you going to find him?" Wally asked "I can run through the North and west section and you cover the rest"

"That won't be necessary, I can find him, I just needed a high enough place to block everything else out"

"What are you going to do?"

"I am about to copy one of my mom's tricks, I'm going to follow his heartbeat"

"His heartbeat? You memorized it?"

"It wasn't hard, when we were fighting I learned its rhythm, I thought it was accelerated because of the adrenaline, but then Lex showed us the shields of red kryptonite, which means he is always angry, so his heartbeat is continuously fast. No human could keep up with that, so I just need to single him out"

"That's why you held back? To have enough time to recognize his hearbeat?" Wally asked.

"Ye-yeah, that's why" she looked away grimacing.

"At least I know you are laying" Wally remarked crossing his arms "you asked me to trust you, well that goes both directions"

Lera felt herself explode "Fine! He is a clone like me, half human as well, of course I didn't want to fight him!" She threw her hands up "everyone is so caught up in the events that no one seems to realize he is just like me…he was created because of me" she gazed down "I don't want to fight him, if I find him I just…I want to talk to him"

Wally sighed softly "ok, I get it. You won't punch back even if he does, you want to help out"

"…yeah" Lera mumbled.

"Alright, let's go then" he put on his mask "single him out and lead the way"

Lera smiled confidently before closing her eyes and focusing on a steady heartbeat…

______________________________________

There he was, new to the world, looking up at the night sky, trying to find something if not himself.

"That's the moon" Lera said approaching the boy that was the middle of a corn field looking at the stars. The clone rapidly got into fighting stance running in her direction and pinning her against a tree, but Lera calmly raised her hands "I bet you knew that, but it's pretty different seeing it up here" she pointed at her own head "than out there" she gestured towards the sky.

The clone grunted a response, his veins pumping blood fast.

"I am just here to talk" she said "my name is Lera" she offered.

The boy looked away trying to find something in his memories, something that wasn't there.

"They didn't gave you a name either, huh?" She smiled shortly "they didn't gave me mine, I chose it" she explained keeping a comfortable distance not to threaten him or to be at risk.

"What do you want?" He finally spoke up in a deeper voice than Lera would have expected.

"Like I said, just talk" she answered looking up since the height difference was that notorious. He just scoffed pushing his forearm closer against her neck, Wally flinched from the distance.

"Don't get your guard down, Lee" he mumbled into the com.

The Boy of Steel shot a glare into his direction from the distance.

"You got super hearing too, got it" Lera raised her hands taking off the com "ok, now it's just us" she offered "that over there is my friend, Wally. You probably don't know him, I just recently met him" she smiled sweetly "he's like us"

He raised a brow in disbelief.

"Ok, not completely like us, but he has powers too" she shrugged "it's great to have others around that understand the feeling, other people the same age…just having friends, actually"

The boy looked away and Lera understood what was going through his head.

"I know what you've been through"she whispered "I don't usually talk about it, but…I remember Cadmus" that gained her his full attention "I remember the scientist, the needles, the tests…how they seemed to pull me apart and put me back together" she hugged herself "when they couldn't gain anything else from me they simply…put me in a pod and forgot about me. Just another project dusting on the shelf"

"We are nothing alike" he bite back "you were a failed experiment, a first draft. I have a purpose, I am a living weapon" he roared "you are two broken pieces put together"

That comment got under her skin but she kept on defying "That's what Lex made you believe, what you don't see is that you have a choice" she remarked pushing his arm away standing tall "and you can be so much more than just a clone of Superman" she pointed at the insignia on his chest.

Superboy was speechless for a second before hearing a high pitch sound that made him cover his ears groaning in pain and anger. Lera was about to lay a hand on his shoulder when he caught her wrist holding her with an iron grip, looking her dead in the eye.

"No heat vision" she said knowingly.

"Not yet" he put another shield on.

"Wait!" Lera urged taking it away from him "don't use them, I don't want to fight you"

"I wouldn't want to fight me either" he took another and put it on his forearm, suddenly his baby blue eyes sparkled crimson. His already accelerated heart double its speed.

Lera promptly freed herself and moved behind him holding him in a lock "you misunderstood me, I don't want to, but I can" she held him tight. He backed away trying to knock her over a tree, so she moved swiping his legs when he was in the backward movement making him stumble to the ground "you don't have to do this, I know the rules of the game. You don't speak, move or even breathe without someone else telling you to" she gestured around "No one is giving orders, you don't have to obey him"

"You are wrong" he said through clenched teeth and if Lera wasn't wrong, she could swear he sounded hopeless and resigned. Superboy threw some punches that Lera evaded trying to reason with him, even if it was futile "why won't you attack?!" He demanded finally catching her arm and twisting it back making her kneel against the ground. His human DNA diminishing as his strength increased.

Lera cried trying to compose herself, she barely gazed up at him over her shoulder "You don't see it, but I do…you are my only cousin, why would I want to fight you?"

He was caught off guard, his movements stopping for half a second before the high pitch sound pierced through his ears and even stronger ire took over "you are nothing to me" he deadpanned before pressuring into her arm until a loud snap was heard followed by a throat ripping scream.

Lera fell to the ground shielding her broken arm against her chest. Tears roaming freely, she was unable to hold them back.

Superboy stared down in a mixture of shock and terror as he backed away, not even a moment later the yellow blur knelt next to her.

"Lera!" He carefully tend to her "h-hey, it's ok, I've got you" Wally cooed before shooting a glare his way "we are not done" he threatened.

Superboy frowned burring away whatever weak feeling that was taking over "Next time it will be her neck" he flew off looking behind to the damaged he had created, something reminiscing in his thoughts.  
____________________________________________  
Kara was on the control room with Barry making calls.

"Yeah, it's unlikely that they'll attack you, but be prepared" Barry said "take care, Oliver" he ended the transmission before exhaling "we've contacted the Legends, team Arrow and any other hero affiliation in this earth, if Lex does come for them, they'll be ready"

Kara absently looked up after spacing out "Um? Oh, yeah, great" she looked down again.

Barry exhaled "hey, maybe there's one more person you should be talking to"

"I've called Alex, they apparently had their own confrontation with Lex before he made the jump, as soon as everything is stable over there she'll come over, Cisco is leaving a small window for just one person to travel here"

"Ok…but that's not who I was talking about" he gazed towards the entrance, where Lena was standing, arms crossed, shoulders shrugged, sight to the floor "I'll give you a moment" he tapped her shoulder encouragingly taking his leave.

The CEO tentatively walked in while Kara busied herself with anything else just to avoid her eyes "Hey" Lena began before clearing her throat loosing her nerve "any updates with the other heroes?"

"We've already give everyone a heads-up" she answered quickly.

"Good, that's…good" the Luthor finally dropped her arms to the sides bringing her own walls down "can you please just turn around and look at me so we can talk?"

"I think we've already done enough talking" Kara said curtly shrugging her shoulders, as if trying to shield herself from whatever else Lena could say, that's how much her words had gotten under her skin, and Lena knew it.

"I am…I am sorry, Kara" she said earnestly in a soft tone "what I said…it was unfair, you are as much Lera's mom as I am…" Lena gazed away "I was speaking on Lera's behalf as if I knew any better when truth is…those were my thoughts" she admitted.

"What?" Kara asked somehow more wounded "why would you think that?"

Lena felt herself getting smaller "...maybe I just needed you to be the mom outside the field too, just be Kara Zor-el for her. I was the one feeling left alone, living with Lera as civilians and only seeing you two together through TV. I-I am…sorry, it was uncalled for"

Kara then saw there was no malice in those emerald eyes, on the contrary, they were just as hurt by her own words. So the Kryptonian approached her wrapping her arms around, cuddling her "I understand… I've been only present in Lera's formation when it's about hero work, you…you live with her, get to worry about all the other things, raising her, teaching her...I'm sorry I left you to raise Lera alone like that, I will take my roll as well, I promise" she mumbled into her hair feeling Lena hide even further into her shoulder.

"Thank you" came a little response that melted the Super away.

"Always" she settled on the welcoming warmth forgetting about the rest of the world when suddenly a rush of yellow appeared urging for their help.

"You have to fix her arm!" Wally yelled bringing all of the team's attention to them.

As soon as he laid Lera down they could all see how her arm was bending in all the wrong directions.

"What happened?!" Lena yelled going to her side.

"I…I went to talk to him, I thought I could reason, I took him by surprise, he didn't meant to, I know that" Lera tried to explain.

"You can't reason with my brother"

"Not him, the Super guy from your earth broke her arm" Wally answered anxiously "just get it back to normal" he urged.

"You went behind our back and engaged?!" Barry asked furiously.

"Not cool dude!" Cisco chimed in.

"Yeah, I know, ground me later, just take the pain away" Wally cut them short.

Caitlin stopped her movements "I-I can't take off her suit, it's costume made to be one piece and in bullet proof material. The suit wasn't ripped, I can't cut through it and taking it off means risking misplacing her arm"

"What does that mean?" Iris asked not liking how they all looked worriedly at the teen.

"That we'll have to put it back into place as it is" Kara said.

"And we can't inject any pain killers"

Lera pressed her eyes shut "just do it" she faced away while being held down by Kara.

"Ok, the bone fracture begins at the elbow" Kara evaluated with her x-ray vision "ulna and radius" she instructed.

"Ok, I'll pop it back into place" Caitlin said "Lera, I am not going to lie, it's going to hurt"

"I know" she answered.

"Keep your eyes shut, inah" Kara said cooingly "you can hold my hands as hard as you can"

Caitlin took her wrist evaluating quickly "ok, on three" she held firmly "one…two…" she snapped it back in place making the teen scream in pain while being held into place by her mother while the endless seconds of torturing suffering endured.

Once the swirl of pain left her system she collapsed back in the bed exhausted.

"There we go" Kara passed her hand through Lera's hair getting the sweat off her forehead.

Lera's chin quivered as she turned over her mother's shoulder to hide away her face from the rest of the team, shielding herself to cry privately. Kara was shortly aback before wrapping her arm around and cooing softly. Lera always tried to show a brave face, shrugging off every scratch and wound, dismissing their constant pleas for her to stop endangering herself, and finally that had caught up to her.

The moment was cut short, however, by an incoming signal, which made Lex's face appear on all the screens.

"Well, well. I underestimated you, I must admit" he didn't seemed amused "you were able to locate my project Kr while alone and still you couldn't take it out, such a wasted opportunity on your end, but at least that worked on my advantage. Even with all her powers maximized your pet can bleed and be broken" he smiled devilishly.

"I swear Lex, you are going to pay for this" Lena warned her voice carrying more than a warning.

"Next time it will be her neck that breaks in two" Lex replied cutting the transmission leaving Lera to replay those words. Superboy had said them first, but they didn't sound like his own and maybe those weren't his words after all.

Kara turned around looking at Lena "how do we put an end to this?"

"I don't know how to stop him" Lena drove a hand to her temple "I can't think like him, I am not him" she said in anguish just a moment before an idea sparked in her mind "but…I know someone who might"


	17. Chapter 17

Kara turned around looking at Lena "how do we put an end to this?"

"I don't know how to stop him" Lena drove a hand to her temple "I can't think like him, I am not him" she said in anguish just a moment before an idea sparked in her mind "but…I know someone who might"

_________________________________________

All of team Flash and the Super Luthors were on the move and searching. Knowing that Star Labs was compromised, they needed a new base of operations, a place away from Lex but still in the battlefield, and more so, they needed someone's help.

"You said he lived in the country side?" Cisco asked through his new com while driving Caitlin and Joe in the car.

"Yes, he said he needed a change of scenery" Lena answered holding into both her heroes in mid flight.

"The results for Alexander Luther showed he recently acquired a farm next to some folks around here" Joe informed looking at the records.

"Let's hope we find him first" Barry said dashing through the highway carrying Iris.

"It's right in front of you according to the GPS" said Caitlin as the heroes stopped in front of a barn.

Kara descended carefully being completely struck by the all too familiar image, specially when a married couple walked outside to see who had reached their far away heaven.

"The Kents?" Supergirl breathed out.

"We don't want trouble" said the man wrapping a hand around his wife.

"Wait, I know them" Alexander ran past them to reach Lena "what are you doing here?" He asked in a mix of enthusiasm and terror while he looked at all the heroes in gear up "and who are these people?"

"There were a few things I didn't told you the first time we met…but I need your help to stop my brother, to stop you"  
___________________________________________________

Both the Luther and the Luthor were inside the kitchen talking while the rest waited outside. The Kents giving out lemonade to everyone while greeting them all.

"So you are saying that in you earth a race of aliens exist and I hate them so much I became obsessed and tried to kill them until I lost my sanity?"

"My Lex lost it, you on the other hand are of clear judgment, I need your help to predict what he would do next" she explained.

Alexander covered his face grunting before taking a peek outside the door at where Supergirl and Lera were talking with the Kents.

"And that's your kid" he mumbled, a smile filling his features. Lena gazed at them fondly as well.

"Yes, that's Lera. She is also Supergirl's daughter, she is a clone of both"

"Supergirl is the same woman that was downtown with you before" he said like a fact.

Lena thought about refuting, but couldn't bring herself to do so.

"The resemblance is uncanny" Alex said softly "neither of us could have kids" he mentioned "I mean, my version of you, Lana and I were both sterile. My ex wife left me because of it, so at the end of the day I knew that the moment I lost Lana I would be alone, I would be the last Luther standing. I guess that's why it meant so much to me that in some universe I got to be an uncle…well, your brother got to be one"

"But he doesn't see Lera as that, he sees her as a malformation, a failed experiment and he will keep trying to take her and Supergirl out and I can't let that happen…that's why I need your help"

"You are fighting for your family" he said softly "those two are the love of your life, ha?" He offered a sincere gesture leaving Lena speechless "ok, let's fight for them, then"  
______________________________________

It was way past midnight when the heroes gathered in the barn to lay out a plan while Lena and Alexander tried to decipher the blue prints of Lex's new suit.

"Ok, so we know that this…Superboy has his human DNA restricted artificially so he can grow full kryptonian powers" said Barry.

"Dang it! I could have come up with that name" Cisco muttered.

"And Lex's suit is made out of Kryptonite and that he has a specific weapon to take down Barry as well" Kara pointed.

"Our advantages depend on things he doesn't know" the speedster concluded looking to his left towards his team "he was obviously clueless about Cisco's powers and…" he looked towards Caitlin, whom seemed to fidget nervously "we'll need you too"

"Why?" Lera asked noticing the weird exchange.

"The fact that you don't know means that neither does Lex" Barry smirked "care to share?" He asked Snow.

The scientist sighed and before their eyes she transformed into her hero persona, her eyes sparkling, her hair whitish a satisfied smirk on her lips as frost began to crawl up her hands.

"That is so cool, right?" Cisco asked knowingly enjoying his own pun.

"Oliver has a team of his own that could come and help us"

"No" Kara cut him short "I appreciate it but it's bad enough as it is to keep adding friends to the list of people we've endangered. Let him hold his ground back in his own city, we don't know how many people Lex brought before we closed the dimensional rifts"

"Apparently 50" Joe walked in next to Alexander and Lena "after Iris told me that there was an actual doppelgänger of the police officer that Lera encountered, I started to run every face in my database to see if someone got repeated. Many cameras have gotten sightings of the same people in two places at once, I'm guessing those are our guys" he put a file down "names and faces you can start memorizing to know who is not from around here"

"Our best guess is that Lex will use all of them as distractions" Lena said.

"Petty smoke screens to keep you all divided while he masters a big punch" Alexander concluded "what he needs is time and he will use all of his resources to keep you busy to do just that"

"Ok, so he knows this is my city and I won't leave it unprotected, so he wants to divide and conquer" Barry mustered out loud "he still has the stolen technology from the expo and we don't know what else, so that makes him dangerous"

"But what else can he posibly want?" Intervend Iris "if he wanted his clone to have time to get stronger he could have opened a portal in literally any other place of the world and stay off the radar until he achieved exactly that, why announce his plans?"

"He only plays games that have spectators" Lena said "he likes that all sights are on him so when he makes a move that no one saw coming he can gloat about it. He is a genius but he still is a narcissist psychopath"

"Still, maybe there is something from this earth that he wants that we haven't considered" Alexander pondered.

"Well, whatever it is, we will be ready" Barry said determined "let's make a contingency plan, if he intends to attack multiple spots at once we better have a respond team ready to attend the situation as fast as possible and then re assemble at the epicenter of the fight were Lex is going to be"

Kara looked up resolved "We need to find a way to take them down before the clone develops full strength of his powers"

"We don't need to fight them, I know I can reach out to him" Lera intervened trying to adjust herself as fast as possible, knowing that the situation demanded immediate action despite her most recent setback.

"Talking to Lex is not an option"

"No, not him, talk to his son"

"That's not Lex's son" Lena said dryly.

"Then how would you describe him? He is the same as me and I am your daughter" Lera looked hurt "right?"

Lena was struck "Of course, I meant that Lex doesn't sees him as that" she continued selecting her words more carefully " the scenery is different, Lee. To Lex he is not even a human being, he created a hybrid he could weaponized to take down Superman"

"Yeah and I was to take Supergirl's place!" She retorted moving way to erratic for her recently casted arm grunting in pain.

"Yeah, but a part of you could never do it because Lena wouldn't hurt me" Kara pointed out laying a hand over her shoulder trying to calm her down.

"But Lex would, my brother will stop for nothing, he hates Superman" Lena said bitterly.

"Which means that my cousin hates a part of himself! Don't you get it? He needs our help"

"Cousin?" Both questioned their daughter.

"He is as close of a blood relative as it will ever get" Lera said half defeated "He is both my uncles" she tried to explain "he is family, even if no one else sees that…I can't fight him and I won't. He can break my other arm if he wants to, I won't retaliate. I've been in his position, if not for both of you, Aunt Alex, Uncle J'onn…I would have been a Cadmus project labeled as Kr, just like him"

Everyone stood silent, Kara took a deep breath and walked to her "I understand that you feel this way but…it's not the same as you, inah. Superboy is driven by anger, he was engineered in ways you weren't, all he sees is red and as long as he is a threat to you or Superman, I will try to stop him because you are the most important thing to me"

Lera shook her head walking backwards, an almost ironic laugh escaping her lips "you don't even realize how much you sound like him right now" she said brokenly.

"Like who?" She asked confused.

"Like Kal, when he first meet me" she said dryly "he wouldn't accept me because I was a Luthor, and you won't accept him either just for the same reason"

"Lera, that's not fair" Kara countered, her voice with a hint of sadness and pain.

"My cousin is not at fault here! He didn't asked to be made, he didn't choose this and it's torture that he has to live under decisions that weren't his! That's what they did to me!" She yelled unaware of when her eyes started to water.

It all fell in silence and not a moment later, Lera was gone, running to a forgotten corner of the field.  
_______________________________________________

Some time passed and Lera could still hear the whole conversation at the distance while still secluded. Barry and his team had the response team ready and everything and everyone seemed to have a place to be, all but her.

"What about Lera?" Cisco asked.

"She is…too emotionally involved" Kara answered "she already got a broken arm, I don't think having her in the front line would be a good idea, the more powerful Superboy gets, the less of a chance we have, so I will fight him, all the other teams can focus on Lex"

Lera sighed annoyed looking at her own broken arm, she had made a fool out of herself twice already, but she had to stick by her convictions. She fidgeted to get something out of her pocket, sort of a last resort she had considered using by now.

"Hey, sweetie" Lena's voice was carried softly through the early morning sky.

"Mom?" She asked aback "how did you…?"

"Well, there is not fortress of solitude here, but…at a Kent's farm, no matter which dimension, you Danvers would go to a place like this" she offered a small smile that Lera corresponded "may I?" She asked before getting authorization to sit next to her.

"Are you going to lecture me?" She asked with no jab on her tone, more like a genuine question.

"I could, after all you promised me you wouldn't go head first into danger and you took one of your most visceral decisions ever by going behind our backs into enemy lines"

Lera shrunk her shoulders ashamed.

"You can't tell me that was a measured risk, that was plainly a gut feeling, you didn't took any variable or statistic into consideration, you simply did it. Very unlike you, I must admit"

"You've done your fair share of irrational behavior when someone you care about is in danger" Lera answered shrugging defensibly "and you are completely human"

Lena almost chuckled by the comeback "for now, let's focus on you since you are my responsibility at this point" she moved her hair out of her face in a caress "Your mom is doing what she thinks is best to protect you. She is trying, sweetie"

"You've so many different points of view in almost everything and this is the one subject you are going to see eye to eye?" Lera asked almost defiantly.

"When it comes to you, we can leave any difference behind" she reached for her chin to drive her eyes to meet hers "I know this can't be easy for you"

"You don't understand" she hugged herself tight.

"You are probably right, I don't. And it scares me that I didn't know… you've never mentioned anything about how being our clone made you feel, you never told us about Cadmus. And before I thought I was doing a good job by not asking, by not bringing those memories back, now I think that's one of the biggest mistakes I've made thus far" she wrapped an arm around her shoulders "so, tell me so I can understand you"

Lera chocked on that thought, she was paralyzed looking back at all the things that happened 40 stories under the ground. The darkness, the pain, the loneliness, all the things she felt without ever realizing what they were. She still had nightmares about it, some were so real she felt like the last six months were the dream and at any moment she was going to wake up back in a pod.

When silent tears began to fall Lena realized how much her daughter had been hurting in silence "hey, it's okay. Whatever that was, it's behind you" she kissed her forehead "you have Kara, Alex, J'onn, me…they can never hurt you again"

Lera sniffed cuddling against her "they can't hurt me, but they can hurt him…my cousin"

Lena then felt the pang of guilt hitting her chest. Of course her daughter felt that way and obviously by all means she was going to keep fighting if it meant at least the gist of a chance to save someone else from enduring that pain, specially if they were family.

"Ok, sweetie" Lena finally said whipping away her tears "I get it, I know what is driving you so strongly" she looked her square in the eye "but still, I do agree with Kara on this. You were already hurt and since you won't fight him even if he engages, I can't let you be on the front line. You can help in another way, stopping the other doppelgängers or such, but I don't want you near my brother or his boy" she said her ultimatum with resolve.

"But mom, I-" she pulled out a red shield like the ones Superboy had been using.

"Where did you got that?" She asked alarmed.

"I took it away from him when he was going to use it, he has dozens, but the point is that, if I put this on, my arm will heal in minutes and for eight hours I can be as strong as any of them and with all the training I've been getting I'm sure no matter what he does, he couldn't hurt me" she said eagerly, unprepared for the look Lena gave her in return.

"Lera, I can't loose you" she held her shoulders firmly "not like that and…not again" she said brokenly "remember the last time there was red kryptonite in you?" She said softly "that was one of the scariest days in my life, I thought I was going to lose you and Kara, I won't risk putting that in your system not even if that could guarantee our victory" she said firmly.

"But mom…I need to be strong"

"You are strong" she coped her cheeks "stronger than you even know. Stronger than Kara, stronger than me" she said earnestly "it's your turn to see that" she pressed another kiss on her head sighing "I won't ask you to give me that patch, if you feel like it's the only way when danger is upon you, then…I'll trust your judgment" she offered a trustworthy smile.

Lera was momentarily speechless before nodding "thanks, mom…for giving me the choice"

"I'll always believe in you and support you, even if that scares me" she stood up "I'm going back inside, don't wander too far away, we don't want to give away our location too easily"

"Ok, mom…goodnight"

Lena gazed upon the horizon where the sun began to rise "Good morning, sweetie"


	18. Chapter 18

The sun rose through the firmament as all heroes prepared for the battle they knew was coming. They all geared up and awaited. Joe was already in the police station giving files to his men to let them know which faces were friends and which foes.

"Ok, so team Alpha, we are the heavy hitters" Barry said "Kara and I will keep Lex and Superboy at bay" he looked at Lena, Caitlin and Cisco "thanks to the designs you implemented in our suits, that technology will keep my suit from freezing and Kryptonite from poisoning Supergirl"

"Meanwhile team Beta, that is Killer frost, Kid Flash, Super Luthor and me, will answer to any kind of disaster that Lex throws our way"

"And my dad will call you immediately to report any suspect from the list of doppelgängers he gathered before" Iris concluded.

Lera sighed folding her arms as best as the cast allowed her to.

"All good, Lee?" Wally asked.

"Yeah…" she gazed towards the grown ups "you could be in the Alpha team, you know?" She mentioned "you would be a great asset and are more than capable to go"

He looked over at both heroes talking "Who wants to be at the grown up's table, anyways?" He mocked "us junior associates get way more fun" he offered a smile "they fight two and the party is over, we get 50"

Lera then knew he was staying by her side, that he had asked to be left in Beta.

"So? Ready to team up?"

She smiled more confidently "let's do it"

He put his hand and both fist bumped.

Suddenly a beeping noise interrupted.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I'm getting a reading, someone is making the jump" Caitlin said "from your earth to ours"

"Must be Alex" Lena said.

"That's weird, I asked her to call first, she wouldn't-"

And the sudden flash of bluish light hit them as a tall figure stepped in, after the initial shock, only one person dared to speak up.

"Kal?" Kara asked seeing Superman standing there.

"Kara!" He said almost relieved.

"What-what are you doing here?!" She asked aback "where's Alex?!"

"I'm here because Lex Luthor escaped prison and I followed his path of crumbs to the DEO, where Alex told me they had been ambushed so he could flee to another dimension" he looked behind her were Lena was keeping Lera close to her "doesn't surprise me to see that where they go he follows"

Kara frowned and pushed him back "you can leave them out of this or you can stay out of it yourself"

"I'm only here because Lex is my responsibility, he broke free from a prison in Metropolis, so I will make sure he goes back there, this is my personal business"

"Oh, you have no idea how personal it just got" Cisco huffed before Superman's steely eye look landed on him "Mr. Man of Steel, sir" he mumbled.

"What is he talking about?"

Kara breathed in steadily "are you willing to listen to all of it or will you keep on blaming my family?" She asked surprising even herself of her choice of words, but stood unfazed in front of him.

Clark clenched his jaw "I'll listen, if you let me stop him"

Kara breathed in before deciding to confide everything to him.

"Remember the hypothetical question I asked you before…?"  
___________________________________________

Kal broke about two old tires from the truck and fired his heat vision until the scarecrow standing lonely in the field was nothing but ashes. It seemed he only calmed down when the Kents from that dimension walked in to see what all the noise was about.

He apologized sincerely before regaining his cool as he joined the other heroes to orchestrate a plan.

"Is it out of your system?" Kara asked almost mockingly, her arms folded neatly before her.

"We are going to stop them"

"Agreed" Kara nodded "the boy will have his eyes set on attacking you, so you busy him while we take down Lex"

"No, no, Lex is mine"

"Kal, he is prepared to defeat you, he doesn't know Barry or his team as much, we have an advantage against him"

"The Luthor is mine" he repeated more firmly.

"You said you would listen" Kara countered through gritted teeth.

"I already heard all I needed to" he flew away leaving nothing but a breeze of air.

"Kal!" Supergirl was ready to fly and get him, but Lena promptly laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait! We have a plan, we have a strategy, don't toss that aside"

"I know he will do something incredibly brave or astoundingly stupid"

"Yes, I know, it runs in your blood as a family trait" Lena retorted getting an unamused look in return "what I am trying to say is that maybe having him can give you an upper hand. Lex will be unfocused trying to take him down and that can help your team execute your strategy. Let their egos brawl and then sneak from behind"

Kara pondered for a second "ok, right" she nodded looking back "we'll have to move"

"Yeah, no kidding" Cisco interrupted "after having been hiding, the signature radiation of the jump probably gave bald-guy our location"

"Cisco is right, we are compromised in his place, we have to move and begin our counterattack"

While all the heroes started to recalibrate their plan, Lena silently approached Cisco.

"A word, please?" She mumbled taking him to a far away corner inside the barn calibrating her own tracking device.

"I need you to help me get to this location" she said careful not to raise her voice above a whisper.

Cisco immediately understood the reading "you tracked Superman by his biometric reading"

"Yes, same way as I was going to keep and eye on Kara and Lera during battle"

"I don't understand, why do you want to get there?"

"Because by now he probably already have found a trace to my brother and he is beyond unprepared for it"

"I don't get it, then why did you stop Kara from following him?"

"Because he would have gone still and…I couldn't bare the idea of Lex capturing Kara as well, it's selfish, I know, but I still have time to turn the tides for him" she pulled out the device they had been working on.

"The anti-kryptonite shield?"

"I always make a spare" she huffed.

"Ok, so, a quick delivery package and we are back into the plan?" Cisco asked

"Exactly" Lena nodded.

"Ok" he put his glasses on.

"Mom?" Lera called from the entrance "what are you doing?"

"Lera" she turned around hiding the device behind herself.

"You know I can see it with my vision, right?" She walked in "what's going on?" She asked face to face.

Lena exhaled "I am about to be a terrible role model" she kissed the top of her head "it's my turn to do something incredibly stupid" she smiled timidly "I am sorry"

"What are you talking about?"

"Cisco, now" she asked and the sparkle blinded them for a quick second before they entered the portal ending on the other side of town in the middle of what looked like a forest.

Everything was spinning for a second before Lena recovered.

"Ok, we don't have much time before Lera tells Kara what she saw" Lena said and just then Lera realized that maybe that could had been a better idea, but instead, she had jumped inside the portal as well and was lucky to have landed away from their sight, so now she could keep an eye on them without being noticed.

Lena looked at her phone "he is over there" she started walking until she found the imposing figure that stood still, probably using his hearing to find Lex.

"Give us a moment, please" She breathed in before approaching.

"It's almost uncanny how alike your heartbeat sounds" he said without turning around.

"Well, I assure you, what is inside our hearts is very different, no matter how alike they sound"

"Debatable" he cut her short finally facing towards "what do you want, Luthor?" He asked gravely.

"To help you , believe it or not"

"Yeah, Lex used to say the same thing all the time, at the end he only wanted to help himself"

"Ok, fair enough" Lena folded her arms "yes, I'm helping you because that means Kara will be less exposed to danger, which actually helps my stress levels a lot, so, indeed, my help comes from the most self interest actions"

Kal almost chuckled but fell short "you should leave now"

"Not before I can give you-"

"Well, well. My sister and my worst enemy catching up. Is this what you felt when you found out Kara was working with Lena? I understand now why you would be so upset" Lex appeared wearing a devilish grin.

"Lex" Clark said as though he was cursing.

"Hello, Superman" he greeted mockingly "or should I call you Clark Kent? I mean we are in a first name basis now"

"You are going back to jail" he deadpanned.

Lex chuckled "show me" he dared and just when he was about to charge, a Kryptonite bullet pierced his side.

Kal held his wound as Lex approached with a huge piece of green rock on his hand "do you like my new rock collection?"

"Stop!" Lera jumped out intervening.

"Lera?" Lena looked back completely mortified "get out of here, now!"

"Ah, the patient zero" Lex changed objectives.

"Little Super Luthor, you shouldn't be here" Cisco jumped in as well grabbing her.

"Take her back and don't return for me, she could jump with you" Lena asked looking Cisco in the eye "please"

He struggle for a moment before doing what he was told and taking Lera out of there.

"Well sister, such braveness"

"Let Superman leave" she asked in commanding voice.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you will have me in return" she said evenly.

Lex stood quiet for a second.

"that's what you wanted, right? To get me back to mother in our earth, so be it, you'll get me in exchange of his life"

"You know I could kill him and still take you"

"Then you won't have as much leverage against a very angered kryptonian, even Supergirl has her limits"

He scoffed "fine, this will just buy me more time, let's go" he instructed but Lena went to the Man of Steel that was fighting to stand "no, no, no. The kryptonite stays by his side" Lex warned.

"Fine" she knelt next to him.

"What are you trying to do?" Clark gasped out.

"Preventing Kara from loosing her only cousin" she put the device on his hand concealing it "now make sure my daughter doesn't looses hers" she looked him squared in the eye "activate it once we are gone and go back to Kara and help them" she stood up walking towards Lex.

"Welcome back, sister"  
___________________  
As soon as the portal opened back in the farm Lera scrambled to her feet "no, no, no, we have to find her!" She looked at Cisco "come on, make the jump, we are probably still on time to get to them!"

"You heard Lena! I can't risk you getting in the middle again!"

"Hey, hey, what going on?" Barry walked in noticing their frenetic expressions.

Kara followed closely "and where's Lena?"

Not a moment later the Man of Steel dashed in still holding his side. He removed the shield from his insignea and gasped for air.

"Lex Luthor has her" he answered.

"What?!" Kara demanded feeling all her fears materialize "how did that happened?!"

"I walked directly into his trap, when he wounded me, Lena bought me some time, she gave me this device so I could recover from the kryptonite" he showed the invention.

"And you didn't went after them?!" Kara screamed, her eyes beaming with her heat vision.

"She told me to come find you, to help…I owe her that much"

"I know you don't see the harm in letting Lex taking her but I swear Kal, if something happens to her-!" She could feel the tears assaulting the corner of her eyes as they immediately evaporated.

Clark looked down ashamed as he approached "you will get her back, I promise"

Kara turned around driving a hand to cover her eyes. Barry approached laying a hand on her shoulder "remember what she told us. We have a plan, let's execute it fast so we can defeat Lex and get Lena back"

Kara breathed in "ok, yeah- she is always the rational one, the one with the strategy, I can't punch my way out of this one, so we move forward as agreed" she said with heaviness in her chest putting the sake of the mission first, even if that hurt her the most.

Lera could feel her head swirl as she walked away loosing the very last of her composure. Tears were roaming freely as she paced around unable to think straight. She wanted to scream, to go back in time and change so much, she had single handedly ruined three plans in three days.

She didn't noticed she was sobbing until she finally gasped for air.

"Inah?" Kara walked to her hideout "h-hey, hey, what are you-?"

"This is all my fault!" She finally said out loud "If I hadn't gone for Superboy I wouldn't be hurt, if I hadn't followed mom, Cisco could had made the jump with her, if I had realized Cadmus knew about the multiple earths-!"

"That's not on you, Lera. You can't carry the weight of all of it on your shoulders"

Lera broke down "At the end I am just another Cadmus project that backfired"

Kara had never hated her own words as much as she did right then. She grabbed her shoulders firmly facing her, trying to keep her voice from quivering "don't you ever say that again, ever" she said severely "I know… I know those were my thoughts when I first pulled you out of Cadmus" she swallowed hard "I have never been more wrong in my life, Lera" she met her eyes "you are one of the greatest things that has happened to me and I know Lena thinks the same" she whipped the teen's tears away "even if neither of us knew you were coming into our lives, you are not a mistake, ok?" She drove her to her arms giving her most earnest embrace rocking her gently "we are bringing Lena back, alright honey? I swear"

Lera nodded nesting against her shoulder trying to compose herself.

Kara pulled apart to look into her eyes "but I do need you to listen to me. I can't be of any help in the field if I have to worry about you as well" she emphasized "you have to stay away from Superboy, Kal and I will handle it, ok? We won't hurt him if we can help it, we just need to immobilize him, are we clear?"

Lera knew how much was at stake, so she just agreed mutedly.

"Very well then, let's go with the others, we need to move"  
_______________________________________________

"Wh-what do you mean they have Lena?!" Alexander shouted as Cisco updated him.

"You didn't told me there was another version of Lex Luthor on this earth!" Clark gestured towards him "why isn't he restrained or something?!"

Alexander turned towards him "first of all, it's Alexander, man in tights. And secondly, that's rich coming from the person that burned through half of my corn field"

"Your corn field?" He asked outraged "that belongs to Martha and-!"

"I bought half of the property from the Kents, they still live here and go on with their lives, the only trade is that they show me the ropes of the country side" he cut him short dismissing the argument "just tell me how are we getting Lena and the boy back?"

"We" Clark pointed at the symbol on his chest "have powers. You can hate me for it, you can try and change the world so you don't feel powerless or whatever thing your mind is scheming"

"I don't hate you because you are stronger than me, or an alien. And I definitely don't feel powerless in comparison, because if me, a simple human, can threaten you that much just by looking like someone you fear, then no amount of powers in the world can make you stronger" he refuted "still, right now, you are the best hope I have to saving Lena…I couldn't do a thing for Lana but sit at the side of her bed. I'm not standing at the sidelines any more" he stretched a hand out "so, whatever problem, why don't we put it behind us? because I am your best shot to actually stopping the man I resemble"

Superman was speechless before nodding firmly taking his hand "don't double cross us and we should be fine"

"Same" he said "Luthor or not, you bring Lena safely back to her family"

"She is with her family right now, Lex is her only brother"

Alexander shook his head "you are very short sighed then, because her family is right behind you" he said making the Man of Steel look back at Kara comforting Lera, both looking heartbroken "you can see a mile away and you still miss what's right in front of you?" He asked with a dry chuckle "You could be a part of that family"

"I am Kara's family"

"Yeah, by blood. Nobody chooses whose heritage we carry in our veins" he crossed his arms "but your cousin has been building her own home. Honestly, do you want to make her chose? And even more so…would you be willing to bet on the result?" He dared to ask.

"You don't know us"

"True" he shrugged "I've barely known them for a couple of days and I could already tell you all of this, how absent have you been to not know any of it?"

Kal's jaw hanged helplessly open with no answer because no matter how he phrased his excuse of how he was busy being a hero, of how he had a past with the Luthor's, he knew that's all they were, excuses. Because Kara was always the one to reach out to him regarding personal live, he only showed up when the Super name was displayed.

"My dad just called!" Iris rushed in "there was hit matching the faces, the doppelgängers are on the city" she informed "and they are taking hostages"

"Ok! Hero time" Barry called them in "Beta team, you know what to do, as soon as you stop them tie them up and leave them at the barn, Joe will pick them up with police units"

"Gather up gang!" Cisco said "time to play with portals"

"Now it's up to us to find Lex" Barry put his mask on.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could be considered the last one, but...

"Gather up gang!" Cisco said "time to play with portals"

"Now it's up to us to find Lex" Barry put his mask on.  
___________________________________________  
As soon as Cisco closed his portal, they were greeted by a dozen armed men aiming at them.

"Hey Caitlin, time to rage a little!" He urged as the all too innocent scientist transformed in her alter ego.

She shoot ice spikes that pierced through the weapons short-circuiting them as they overheated.

"Those are going to explode" Cisco said.

"On it" Wally took them running to a deserted place where they turned to bits.

Lera aimed her heat vision at the metal making the men drop their weapons out of reflex while Cisco teleported those far away.

"Time to cage them in" Killer frost grew ice spikes that surrounded most of them.

"Come in, do you copy?" They heard Joe through the com "there's another siting on those guys south from there, by the highway"

"On it" Wally said "Lera and I can go there, you transport them back to the barn"

"Ok, regroup as soon as you are done"

"Got it"

Wally sprinted as Lera soared by his side.

"Isn't it strange that there's no sign of Lex yet?" Lera asked.

"What do ya mean?"

"Well, he already put on his show, there goes the opening number…why isn't he taking the stage?"

"Is he a behind the scenes kind of guy?"

"He stays in the shadows so when he steps out he shines the brightest"

"With that bald head of his of course he is going to shine"

Lera chuckled before resuming her thoughts.

"Hey, whatever the plan, we are all together, as long-" but Wally didn't get to finish that phrase as the road below him cracked in a hundred pieces sending him flying away.

Lera barely had time to fly back and catch him before they looked at the end of the road where Superboy was. With just his landing and fists he had crushed the pavement, he was getting irreversibly stronger.

Wally extended his arm getting Lera behind him "we know he is coming for you"

"Yeah" she said back "you want to race one more time?" She asked with the hint of a smile "last one to make it to the adult's table buys Big Belly Burgers"

He chuckled back "let's go" both sprinted leaving Supeboy behind, he was so ready for a confrontation he that it took him a second to figure out they were fleeing. He flew after them with a short distance to catch up to.

"Hey, come in!" Wally talked into his com "we have the Super teen hot on our tail, we are going into your location, prepare to intercept us"

"Copy that" Barry said "good job guys, let us handle this"

Both teens sprinted to the open field and tapped into the hands of their respective mentors while panting heavily.

As soon as Superboy had eyes in his new targets he launched forward but was cut short by Barry as he ran circles around him leaving him confused long enough for the Supers to take over. Superman came landing harsh to try and knock him out, but the boy took a jump back barely missing him.

The boy then threw a punch at Kal, and just as he was about to dodge, Superboy read through his technique and changed directions nailing him in the ribs were his kryptonite wound was.

Kal groaned holding his side before trying to connect again, but every movement he did was easily predicted by the clone.

Kara flew from behind holding Superboy in a lock "He knows your fighting style, he doesn't have your memories but has your skills"

"Lights out then" he pulled back his fist but before he could connect, the boy fired his heat vision sending him far away.

"Kal!"

He then threw his head back connecting with Supergirl's finally freeing himself from her lock. And while Kara recovered, the clone took that instant to nail his elbow into her back sending her into the floor.

"Isn't it wonderful, sister?" Lex asked as he saw everything from the distance in his white tent while serving some wine "only a diamond can break another diamond. All this time and I couldn't realize that the thing that could take out Superman, was Superman himself" he chuckled taking a sip of his glass "so simple" he looked behind to where he had Lena sedated "too bad you can't quite see it, but as I've learned, your little Supers have the bad habit of recognizing your heartbeat a mile away, so we had to slow it down a bit"

Lena groaned trying to focus her sight into his eyes "whatever…you are planning…won't work" she dragged the words.

"I believe it has" he set a cup of wine before her "once there's no more khryptonians in the world you will understand how far better we are. They have poisoned your thought and made you believe you need them, but I am going to set you free, so you can see how strong you really are without them holding you back"

"Why…mix yourself with the thing…you hate the most?"

"All means to an end" he knelt as her level "do you truly think Frankeinstein loved his monster?" He stood up straight again fixing his coat "this tuxedo is fine and all but I think I better use my other suit for such an event, don't you think?" He grinned wickedly "I know you have been trying to figure out my blue prints, so why don't I let you see it up close? You can be my plus one to this party, sister"  
______________________________________________

Superman forgot about his training and self control, he was fighting out of ire now. With no technique he was simply throwing punches and as soon as one landed on Superboy's jaw another round followed. He connected on his gut and as he doubled back Kal grabbed him by his hair pulling him up while his eyes beamed with red.

"No!" Lera flew into him pushing his shoulder so he lost his aim.

"Stand back!" He shoved her aside and Kara rushed to her side stabilizing her in mid air wrapping her arms aroud her.

"Lera, let us handle this, please"

"You can't kill him!" She shouted.

"We are not going to!" Kara said back but upon seeing Kal's face she immediatly knew Lera wasn't talking about her.

"He is your son" lera said brokenly.

"I have nothing to do with this" Superman said back.

"Neither did Kara or Lena, when they took me in" she looked deep into his eyes "it wasn't their decision that I was made, but it was their choice to become my parents"

Kara held her tight pressing her lips against her head "It's ok, inah. I'll handle this" she mumbled into her hair in a reassuring matter. It wasn't until that moment that Clark truly understood that Lera was indeed a daughter to Kara. That his cousin didn't saw the girl as a clone, an experiment or replica, but as her own flesh and blood, that she could call her inah and now the weight and responsability of the word.

He then look at the boy he was holding by the hair, behind those angered eyes and bruised marks, he had to admit, he saw a lot of himself in him.

"I-"

As soon as he began to talk a mechanical fist connected with his jaw sending him across the sky.

"May I cut in?" Lex appeared wearing his exo suit shooting a green blast around himself.

All of them felt their strength fade as they plumed to the ground being affected by the kryptonite gas. Even Superboy was in his knees coughing madly.

Kara rapidly scrambled to her feet "Lera, you have to go"

"I am not leaving you here" The teen stood up dizzly but recovered the fastest putting and arm around her mother driving her away from the blast zone so she could breathe fresh air.

Kara groaned holding her head, she had inhaled a fair amount "are you ok?" She asked her daughter.

"I am" she said confident noticing how the effects were wearing off on her "mom! I am half human!" She said realizing something.

"I know?" Kara gazed confused at her.

"No, mom, I mean, you and Superman are affected by kryptonite and as long as those shields supress Superboy's human DNA he is completely vulnerable as well. But in this earth I got my human DNA restricted to let my powers take over but it's still present. Kryptonite only half affects me" she concluded.

"Ok, so Lex can't harm you like that"

"Exactly"

"Still, I don't want you near him" she took her own protective device out placing it over her chest "resume the plan, help Cisco" Kara turned aroun but her arm was caught in the movement by Lera.

"Have you found mom, yet?"

"That's my number one priority"

Lera nodded "ok" she let go reuniting with Wally "back to Beta"  
___________________________________________________

"That makes 35" Cisco tossed the men out of his portal and right into Joe's hands.

"Some units are coming for them" he informed "any news?"

And as in cue the two teens rushed in "we've found the guy" Wally informed.

"More like he found us"

"How are they holding up?" Joe asked.

"They could use your help" Wally said.

"We are 15 men short in the headcount"

"Is Lena with you?" Alexander asked after tying up an unconcious doppleganger.

"No signs so far" Lera shook her head no.

Alexander pondered "she can't be far from the arena, Lex has no safe house on this earth and I doubt he would have made the accomodations in such short notice, specially since he has no influence here" he deduced "my guess is that wherever Lena is, you'll find your missing guys there"

"Ok, mission update, we find Lena" Cisco said.

"Take me with you" Alex said resolved.

"What? No offense black beard locks but you need to have powers to tag along on this. And so far you have been more help here with Joe"

"Listen, I can think like the enemy, if there's a trap I can see it comming, I am your ace"

"We can protect him" Wally said.

"Yes and Alexander is right, you need to be one step ahead, he is our best shot at that" Lera added.

Joe sighed "fine, just pull him out of danger if the situation goes south"

"Let's go" Cisco exhaled putting his glasses on "let's knock on evil's door, 'cause we have some punches to deliver"

Once in front of the war zone they could see how team Super was struggling to hold their ground as Barry helped evacuate citizens that happened to be there.

The Flash rushed to them "what do we got?"

"We've neutralized 35 of the guys and their weapons, the rest of them should be guarding Lena, you know, like in a video game in which you have to fight off until you get the big boss and-"

"Shut it before I do it for you" Killer Frost warned.

"Anyways, we've brought curly guy to help us find them"

"Ok, go with tht plan and help protect the perimiter" Barry nodded running off.

Lera closed her eyes focusing to no avail "I can't hear her" she said groaning.

"I can run the perimeter, see if I can find her" Wally offered.

"Ok" she nodded ready to do her part when she felt the collision from her back. By the time she recovered she could already tell it was Superboy. She reincorporated as fast as she could and began to fly away getting in the middle of a game of a cat chasing the mouse.

"I told you, I won't fight you"

"Was I giving you a choice?" He raged.

"We don't have to do any of this" she turned around knowing the conforntation would be imminent and began to dodge "I know Lex has a tight grip on your mind, on your actions, but you can be stronger than that, look past the anger"

"There's nothing beyond" he barked throwing punches she deflected.

"Listen, I just want to get my mother back, I know Lex took her, we are here to find here"

Superboy averted gazes even if just for a splint of a second towards a west direction and that was sign enough of what Lera needed to know. Superboy was half Lex after all, he was to keep Lena with them and by lookig that direction it gave Lera all the coordinates she needed to locate a new sound to single out.

"Wally, southwest from here, above sea level" she said into her com as she began to fly into that direction.

Cisco boomed them seconds before her arrival, taking care of all the men that were custoding Lena.

By the time Lera made it to the location they were untying Lena.

"Mom!" She hugged her "I am sorry, I am so-"

"Hush" Lena said weakly "it's ok, sweetie" she stroke her hair "you found me"

"It's ok, Lera, we have her, but you have to keep moving, Superboy will be hot on your trail" Cisco said as Alexander helped Lena stabilize.

"She is still pretty drugged, the effects should wear of in an hour"

"We'll stay with her" Wally assured.

Lera nodded knowing they were right and if she wanted to help the best she could do was standing back. But as fate would have it, that was not going to be an easy mission.

Superboy crashed into land making a dust cloud around himself, and as soon as his eyes laid a target he tossed Lera aside getting her far from the others.

"I wont let you take her!" He said resolved, something ringing in his tone, almost concern that they could take her away from him.

Lera knew where that response came from, she knew those emotions as well, on her own way "you care"

Superboy frowned even deeper and charged towards her "you are going to stay away from us! You are an abomination!"

Lera flew around trying to take an upper hand "maybe so" she replied "we both came from labs and experimentation, so answer me this, what do you think Lex is going to do with you after you are done with your mission? You are smart, do you honestly think he will let live the son of Superman?"

Doubt crossed his eyes, but anger took over "you know nothing"  
__________________________________________________

"We have Lena and the rest of the doppelgängers" Wally said into the com.

Kara lost focus of the battle as she searched for their location "is she ok?"

"Drugged but alive"

Kara sighed relieved "keep her safe, please"

"I couldn't help but overhear" Lex interrupted "you seem to have acquired something of mine!" He blasted her cutting a rift into her protection suit.

Superman flew to her aid being caught off guard when Lex blasted kryptonite spikes around.

"Does he have endless supplies?" Kal groaned fighting through his pain.

"It's the suit" came Alexander's voice "whatever it has inside is making a synthetic mixture of the green rock, so yeah, technically speaking, he has endless supplies"

"Let's rob him of his advantage then" Kara stood ready to fight again as the Beta team saw everything from the ground.

"The core" Lena mumbled trying to overcome the tiredness.

"What's that?" Cisco asked leaning in.

"The core of his suit is what makes the kryptonite, the blasts it makes is what fuels it, like gasoline evaporating the the spark plugs"

"So his kryptonite supply is what powers that suit up"

"Clever" Alexander said "but that gives us just the clue of what we need to do to stop him"  
____________________________________________

Superboy yanked his knee up leaving Lera just enough time to cover her face preventing her nose from breaking, she then felt the heat rays scorching the surface of her suit and the thrust that pushed her back. She was barely holding her ground now. She was exhausted. That was the longest she had ever flied on her own and training or not, she was still half human and Superboy had gotten faster, stronger and angrier while she was just getting worn down. She couldn't flee anymore and she refused to fight.

"Pl-please, listen…"

Superboy chocked her and Lera felt her body go limb, she wasn't flying anymore, she was being held by the throat "I am done listening" he began to dive into the ground crushing her against the field, the wave of the impact sending everything flying away in a 10 yard diameter.

Lera gasped for air, barely still conscious after impact. Superboy landed a couple of more punches before finally looking her in the eye, upon seeing those watery emerald eyes, he stoped.

Lera coughed, blood coming out of her mouth as she struggled to breathe, she pressed her eyes shut before daring to speak up.

"I know how you feel" she chocked out "you hate part of me, the part that is a Luthor, the part that is a Super" she opened her eyes struggling to focus on him "because neither Superman or Lex can stand the idea of the other. But at the same time, I know you don't want to hurt me, because despite all, Lex is Lena's older brother and Kara is Kal's only living relative, so you ought to protect that" she smiled weakly a chuckle drowning at the back of her throat "but here's the thing, I am not really either of them. I am not Lena or Kara, I am just me" she pointed at her chest without a symbol to display. And so is your case. You are not Clark or Lex, it's up to you to decide who you want to be"

And for the first time, Lera heard it, his heartbeat was slowing down. He backed away slowly shutting his eyes and holding his head "I…I am not-" he was cut short by the sudden high pitch sound that pierced through his ears making him kneel down facing away from her, he roared and he fought as his heartbeat picked up the pace again.

Lera rushed to his back barely holding herself together and held him in a lock "I know you are mad, believe me, sometimes I still feel that way, so let it all go, right here, right now. Let it out"

Superboy tried to free himself but Lera held him in place with the last of her strength until he finally screamed to the sky and his eyes beamed in a bright red that burned through the clouds and tree tops. But despite all the movement and the struggle, Lera never let go of him until he finally ran out of it.

He gasped for air as he fell forward landing on his knuckles as he for the first time really breathed in.

Lera went limb and fell next to him coughing as some blood still dripped from her mouth.

"What…what did you…?"

"You are powerless for now" she panted "all you human DNA was suppressed and since Lex controlled you via your powers, no powers, no control he can place over you. And Red kryptonite doesn't have the same effect on humans, so no anger placed upon you either" she explained "right now, you are you…whatever that makes you feel" she raised her chin locking gazes "I am about as weak as you, so if you really want to finish what Lex started, then do so right here, right now" she said firmly "if that's truly what you want"

Superboy saw his fists, he really got to see himself and after that, he saw what he had done. He got to see Lera for what she really was, beyond being another victim of Cadmus games, she was without a doubt, his family, one way or another.

"I-I don't want to hurt you, not-not again, not anymore" he clenched his fists "I... don't know what am I"

"You will have to figure it out" she tried to offer a kind gesture "and people that care for you can help you through that" she tried to stand but doubled back groaning, she didn't need to use her x ray vision to know her rib was broken.

"Lera" he put an arm around her "are you-? Did I-?"

"It wasn't you, cousin" she said managing a genuine smile.

Wally ran towards them "I saw the lasers!" He saw the terrible shape Lera was in "now you are going to pay for this" he ran towards him punching him in the jaw knocking him down.

"Wally-!" Lera called but cut herself short as a wave of pain ran through her insides.

"Hey, it's ok, I've got you, Lee" he carried her in arms.

Superboy sat up holding his face "that hurt" he said surprised and annoyed.

"Told you, no powers" Lera said "he is not fighting us, Wally" she assured her friend.

"Still, consider that payback from breaking her arm" he said glaring at the boy "come on, I have to take you out of here"  
__________________________________________

Lex smiled devilishly as he held the mighty Man of Steel by the cape dragging him down, a piece of kryptonite cutting through Superman's shield and pierced into his collarbone.

Lex then saw a man walking alone towards him.

"My, my. My long lost twin brother?" He asked mockingly as Alexander approached.

"Mother always told me stress would make my hair fall, good to know she wasn't bluffing" he retorted "Lex Luthor, I presume"

"Unimpressive version of me, I am sure" Lex responded "it's almost embarrassing that a version of me didn't became an influential individual in another reality. That makes you a weak link, a waste of genetical material, a spare"

"Then spare me the chat" Alexander cut him short "I know why you are really here, besides this façade" he gestured around "you hated that man because he was superior than you and now you happened to stumble across a whole other world where lots of normal people got to become empowered as well. You bought the candy store but saw a kid with a red lollipop and decided to take that away from them as well"

Lex almost smiled "the more there is to take, the more I will take advantage of it"

"And what were you planning to do? Clone yourself with every other genetic powered up person?"

"Why bother?" He smirked "project Kr has the unique capability of taking in whatever virus, genetic material or bacteria and host it for me. Besides, it is a perfect blood donor"

"So he is your body bag" Alexander concluded "you put the Flash's blood into him, let him process it for you and then inject it on yourself?"

"Assuming he survives the trials" Lex added "then I will become the strongest man of any earth know or unknown"

"It will fail" Alexander said steadily "and you know I am right"

"And why would I listen to you?"

"I know everything about you"

"You wish, golden locks"

"Oh, but remember, I am you" he remarked "I was you. Seven months ago. I became obsessed as well, not over an extraterrestrial beings, but with other things. I lost my mother, my sister, my wife and finally I was losing myself, like you did"

"Don't pretend to be better with some self righteous bu-"

"I wasn't. I am not. That's the point. We both think we are invincible, superior, the smartest mind in the room, but we are not. The moment I realized that and let people in to help me through, I overcame that obsession"

"Asking for help is a sign of weakness"

"And denying it is proof of madness" Alexander countered resolved.

Lex frowned deeply before raising his gloved hand "It will be poetic justice that I put an end to you" he prepared to charge when suddenly he was hit from behind by Supergirl, sending him far away.

She panted looking up "sorry for the delay, I needed to get powered up, this sun doesn't charge me up as fast"

Alexander sighed "that won't stop him for long" he ran to Superman pulling out the kryptonite piece jolting him awake.

"You could have…done that gently" Kal complained holding his shoulder.

"I bet that's what she-"

"Kara!" Cisco boomed them into the scene "we've got her!" He announced helping the young Luthor steady herself.

"Lena!" Kara landed running to her arms, she hadn't felt that relieved in a long time. Like all her worries could melt away as soon as the other woman wrapped her arms around her.

"Kara" Lena rested against her shoulder.

"Cisco, can you pick us up?" Wally's voice called from the com "we've got Super Dude with us, he is harmless, but we need some assistance"

"Coming" he jumped back into his portal leaving with Killer Frost as Alex tended to Clark and the Super and Luthor got a moment to be.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Kara asked barely letting her go of the embrace, fighting off the tears.

"I'm a little fuzzy, but unharmed" Lena smiled copping her cheek looking into her eyes, noticing all the scars, bruises and blood covering her "are you?" She caressed the side of her face cleaning one of her cuts, but Kara gently grabbed her fingers driving them towards her, resting her lips on Lena's white knuckles.

"I am, I am now" she leaned in resting her forehead against hers "Lena, I was so scared…if something had happened I…"

"Nothing happened" Lena cooed softly "I am really here right now, with you"

"I don't want that to ever change" she admitted earnestly feeling betrayed by her own words. She looked into Lena's emeralds searching for something, a reaction, an emotion, but soon, all she could feel was pain as a spike of the green rock stabbed her spine. She fell into the ground with a loud cry.

"Stay away from my sister" Lex said gravely aiming at her "last warning"

"Kara!" Kal tried to stand but fell, still badly wounded.

"Stop!" Lena knelt in front of Kara covering her "don't hurt her!"

"Lena, get out of the way!" He barked furiously "now!"

"If you are going to shoot then do it, but I am not letting go!" She yelled back.

"Those are the narcotics talking, Lena. Reason with me and let go, I have enough Kryptonite concentrated to cover this whole city"

"You want to put a bullet on her, it will have to go through me first"

Lex felt his hand quiver "I will fire, Lena"

"I know you will" she answered equally fearlessly, not blinkin, not even when a bluish spark appeared.

"Guys we need to go to the medical bay, Le-" Cisco cut himself short noticing the scene that played before him "ok, everyone chill!"

"With pleasure" Killer Frost shot sharp stakes of ice hitting the mechanical arm of the Meka suit.

Lex groaned as he pressed a button on his control panel "Project Kr, end them" he commanded, and to his surprise the boy stood still glaring at his direction.

"I won't" he said gravely leaving the older Luthor aback for a second before ire overcame him.

"You can end this" Alexander said carefully "leave the exo-suit behind and come out, we can talk"

"Why talk when I can poison this whole place?" He held his thumb into a red leader "you better start running away, because the moment I let go of this a cloud of green will be release for miles and miles, no kryptonian would ever survive that amount of exposure, let alone if you are this close and believe me, no matter how fast you are, the moment my print is no longer on the panel, it will go off"

Before the heroes could exchange glances, Alexander spoke up giving side gazes until he locked eyes with Lera for a brief instant before focusing on Lex.

"I know you. You think you are always one step ahead, that's why you never look back, because you think in your core that you are indestructible, when actually you are reacting to everything around you, just like everyone else"

"The suit" Lena mumbled understanding the sub-context Alexander was giving her.

"Your speeches won't win you any more time" Lex said "the more pressure it adds up, the bigger the blast"

"Wally, I need you to help take everyone out of here" Lera urged in whispers fidgeting with her pocket.

"What? What are you planning?"

"A last resort" she pulled the red shield out pulling her sleeve up.

"Don't" Superboy grabbed her wrist "you don't want that on you"

"Right now, I need to be strong enough" she pulled away putting it on. She never expected the effect to be so immediate. Her heart went from a faint rhythm to a pulse that she herself could barely keep up with.

She gasped for air falling to her knees, her human DNA being suppressed abruptly, her healing factor kicking in. She felt like she had changed skins and now was being reborn into what she was always meant to be. And what she had been meant to be was as strong as Supergirl, she was designed to take her place, she couldn't be less that that and she was finally seeing that, she was seeing red.

"Lera?" Wally went to her side grabbing her shoulder, but she pushed it away beginning to rise into flight "get them out of here" she commanded shooting a glance in his direction, her eyes were steadily beaming, smoke coming out of them.

Wally backed away carefully "Barry, do you copy? Come here now, we need as much help as we can, Lera's –" Superboy pulled him by the arm getting him out of her sight.

"Dude, let go! She needs help!" The young speedster said.

"Believe me, right now you are at way more risk" he said evenly "tell the other man to portal them out of here, you don't have much time"

"Before what?"

"Before she makes us blow up into pieces"

"Didn't you hear me?!" Lex shouted unaware of the flying figure that was above him "go awa-!" He felt the jolt from behind as he was shot by heat beams. He kept his hold on the panel before daring to look the other way.

"Alexander was right" Lera said unamused "you always think you are one step ahead, that's why you would never look back"she sprinted forward yanking a tube from his robot "not even in your designs" she threw him into the ground punching the metal chest piece before tearing it apart to reveal the green core "you believe this to be invincible, but it just needs to heat and overreact and then…well then we will really get to see some fireworks, don't we?"

"How…how are you standing being close to kryptonite?" Lex asked, a trace of fear in his frown.

"When you have a motive you can overcome a lot of things, and you've hurt a lot of people I care about, so believe me, I have lots of motives to keep standing" she clenched her jaw letting the anger overflow her as she directed her heat vision into the core overheating it.

Barry dashed in without a second to breath in before he saw the magnitude of the problem at hand.

"Lera, stop!" Lena urged being held back by Alexander "that is going to explode"

"She knows that" he answered "she understood my message"

"We need to get her out of there before it does"

"She won't go until her mission is completed" Superboy said "she has one of my shields"

Lena felt her world crumble "no, no no…" she tried to free herself to reach for her daughter, but Cisco intervened.

"I need to get you out, when the suit goes ka-boom it will free all the kryptonite as well, Superman and Kara won't stand a chance then"

"Neither will Lera!"

"I will come back for her!" Barry restrained her "Lena, I need to save as many as I can, we won't let her sacrifice herself, I promise, please" he tried to reason "we won't leave behind your daughter" he looked into her eyes and finally Lena stopped fighting.

"Barry if something-"

"It won't " he nodded "Cisco, get Superman, Caitlin and Alexander out of here. Wally, you get Lena, I've got Kara"

"We need to get them into a contained environment, the kryptonite will be all over the place"

"To the cells, Star Labs" he said as they began to move out.

Cisco portaled them all before doing a head count "w-wait, where's Superboy"

"I'll go for him" Wally sprinted off going back into the battlefield, to his surprise finding him getting closer to the brawl.

"Dude! What do you think you are doing?!"

"I need to stop her!"

"You told us no one could"

"But I have to try! She did the same for me, she got herself in danger for the chance I might listen, I broke her for it…I can't offer any less than what she did"

"What's up with you alternate dimension people and your headstrong resolutions?" Wally groaned "I was already staying to help her" he said "to be clear, you didn't beat me to it"

"Whatever" Superboy dismissed him "can you get me near?"

"Hold on tight" he ran towards carrying him in his back before he had to dodge metal pieces that were flying by.

"Lera!" Wally shouted getting her attention "you can stop now!" He asked "we've won, he can't hurt you or your family anymore"

"But he will, he always will" her brows furrowed, her eyes still smoking "Grandmother did too, she wasn't redeemable, she hurt my mothers as Lex will too. As long as he is alive he will threatened them"

"Lera, you are not a killer" Wally replied trying to reason with his friend and partner in crime "that's not you, those aren't your thoughts"

"What if they are?" She challenged back "the world-any world, would be better without him"

"If you kill him then you are proving him right" Superboy intervened "you are proving that his fears and his hate are justified" he approached.

"He tried to kill us first, he is the one that attacked, we didn't do anything to him"

"I know" her cousin said "but believe me, you don't want to continue the cycle either, you don't want that on you, you don't want to carry that on your life…I will have to" he confessed "Cadmus…it had me on strings long enough for them to make me…" he left the rest unsaid "I am a living weapon, but you got out in time, your family saved you, don't throw their sacrifice away by doing this, by going down the path they rescued you from"

Lera looked down at the robot, Lex was unconscious and bleeding…the red dripping from his veins splattering her knuckles. She felt something ringing in the back of her head "I need to be strong" she told herself.

"Then be strong enough to be better than him"

Her eyes glowed brighter her eyes fuming "I can't" she said, her sight fixed into the core.

"You can, overcome the red shield" Superboy pleaded.

"It has to be done" she fired again making the core reach its critical point.

Superboy jumped grabbing her "Please, Lera!" He held on even without his powers to help him "he is my dad" he finally admitted and that broke the very last part that Lera had to hold on to her anger. She ceased her fire as she looked at him and saw a lot of herself, all the fears, all the unknown things that she first encountered when she got out of the pod. The only two thing she knew for certain back then were that Lena and Kara meant the world to her because that's all she knew. And Lex was all Superboy knew, he was his dad indeed. She shut her eyes and fought to take control over herself. She tore the suit open dragging Lex's body out.

"Get him out of here" she commanded as Superboy grabbed him getting help from Wally.

"Take him" Superboy asked in an urgent manner, they all knew the explosion was imminent.

Wally dashed away as Lera grabbed the suit and began to fly upwards trying to get it far away, feeling her strength already fading, she had used her heat vision long enough for it do drain her as well as it had whipped cleaned Superboy.

When she reached the highest peak she could, she tossed it to the sky while the gas leaked. She was pluming back into earth trying to manage a landing, but her strength was dull now. Once she hit earth she could feel the kryptonite falling on her, she tried not to breath too deeply to minimize the damage. She then felt a couple of arms wrapped around her as Superboy used his body as a shield to cover her from the green rock.

"I've got you" he said being fully aware that at any moment the suit was going to explode and them come back into earth in a dozen flaming pieces, but not once did he let her unprotected, and just as the metal shower was going to reach them, two blurs dashed in taking them away from the danger zone.

Barry panted as he settled Lera down while finally catching his breath "I promised your mom I would get you" he laid back breathing in "and your other mom would had killed me if I didn't"

And just like that, it was finally over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This friday I will post the final chapter to tie in some knots and bring to an end quite a journey. Thank you for reading, supporting, commenting and sticking with this fic, I hope it has been as fulfilling for you as it has been for me, until next time...


	20. Today is the Day

Lena silently entered the medical bay where the screens showed that there was no green kryptonite remains on any Super and no red traces on the two clones.

She silently approached Kara's bed watching the kryptonian rest in the induced sleep while her more severe wounds were treated. Lena sighed while running her pale fingers through golden locks.

"You did it again, Kara, you know that?" She mumbled being reassured that the other woman couldn't answer back "You risked it all in hopes to save others and you succeeded" she stroke her cheek were a bandage laid "but not without a scratch" the Luthor said almost remorsefully "you try to keep me away from this part of you, the one that looks for the well being of others before their own, the one that is a hero and is in constant risk, but you still don't see that I am not going anywhere" she said earnestly looking at how peaceful Kara seemed in her slumber, it made her want to lay by her side and let the outer world sort itself without her "it doesn't scare me" she leaned kissing her forehead "And I am staying by your side"

Barry smiled to himself backing away in silence so he wouldn't intrude the scene, at least he knew that if Kara was to need anything, Lena would be right there to help her, always.

_________________________

They all had been treated after the battle, getting patched up, nurtured back into health and now finally getting a real feeling of what had to come next. And no other place felt as fitting for a farewell as the Kents farm, where all the craziness started and now was ready to come to an end.

"We'll be completely healed once we are back under our own sun" Kara assured having a bandage around her waist " Alex is already processing the 50 men that were here, so there won't be any more dopplegangers on your earth" she assured Barry.

"I only care that you are all alright, and that this doesn't discourage a future visit"

"Maybe next time we can come over" Iris suggested holding Barry's side knowing he was sore as well "game night souns innocent enough"

"You clearly don't know Alex" Kara joked before smiling tenderly "we really put you through the worst and you came through for us…I will never be able to repay you"

"You don't have to repay favors to family, Kara. And you know very well that you all are our family as well" he gazed softly into her eyes.

"Speaking of family, I better help Wally get Lera over here, with that broken rib she won't be able to move much" Iris pointed out.

"Adding that to her already broken arm" Kara exhaled trying to smile despite the situation as she watched them talk to Lera "I got lucky, I could have really lost everything but I get to go back home with both of them by my side"

Barry smirked slyly in his charming way folding his arms "you know, the first day you got here, you asked to sleep on the couch but I don't think there was a single night you spend away from Lena"

"Yeah, sorry for the trouble, the circumstances changed, I couldn't stay away from her" she explained shrugging her shoulders.

"Then why do you insist otherwise?" He finally asked smiling honestly, looking at her with ease "as someone who knows about running, I can tell you, Lena is not the one putting the distance" he smiled tenderly before patting her shoulder and going with the others.

Superman stood in front of Barry's team as the other came around to gather "I will get Lex Luthor into Metropolis' high security prison" he assured "he won't get out again"

"We'll take your word for it big guy" Cisco said "don't make us go there and clean your mess again" he joked punching his shoulder getting a deadly unamused glare in return "right, sorry"

Superman then looked at Superboy "Regarding you, little brother, we can find a way to train you and help you shape your powers in Smallville"

"…I don't want to go back. I don't want to be where Cadmus is, if I may, I rather stay here" he said, his tone firm, his eyes soft.

"Are you sure?" Lena asked concerned "we'll gladly take you in, you can live with us"

He offered a genuine smile towards Lena and shook his head "I'll be alright, Aunt. But I can't have a life there"

"You can live with me" Alexander said, his sight encouragingly "I might not be your Lex but…I can give you a home, if you give me a chance"

Superboy offered a small smile nodding his head with gratitude, it would be a long time still until he could connect to his emotions and feel safe enough to express them, but he was going to be just fine.

"Cool! We'll get to team up!" Wally hit his shoulder feeling like he just had punched a brick wall.

Barry exhaled "don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them" he assured.

"I think that settles it then"

"Time to open one last portal, then" Cisco prepared as the final farewells took place.

Superman approached one more person "Miss Luthor" he called getting the CEO to turn around "I…wanted to apologize for…all I did and said regarding your affiliations with Lex, you are two different people and I ought to acknowledge that"

Lena nodded " thank you, Superman"

"Clark" he offered "you put yourself in the middle of Kara and Lex risking your own well being while completely aware of the danger you were in…whomever willing to do such selfless thing can call me Clark, specially if that person was saving my family…your family" he stretched his arm out "if you'll let me, I will like to try to be part of yours"

Lena was aback as one of the strongest beings in multiple earths held a timid smile while expecting her reaction. She smiled and shook it "I would like that" and after years of differences and resentments, for the first time, they finally saw eye to eye.

"You know I won, right?" Wally said to Lera "on the last race we had? I beat you to it" he teased smirking.

Lera chuckled the best she could "Fine, I have enough allowance to buy a restaurant, lunch is on me" she retorted smiling "but you have to come to my city to claim it" she added tilting her head.

Wally grinned "it's a deal" he wrapped his arms around her "see you around, Supernova" he teased.

"Catch you later, Speedy" she mocked as well to fight off the tears that were forming as her voice quivered "thank you, Wally, for giving me something I didn't know I was missing"

"What? A real challenge?"

"A real friend" she answered and now it was his turn to deal with the emotions.

"Right back at ya, Lee" he let go so she could bare her goodbyes to one final person.

Superboy stood still looking at her, in his eyes there were a million words he wanted to say but didn't know how to express them, so he just said "thank you"

Lera smiled back "we are family" she answered.

"That's why I am thanking you" he replied "you didn't gave up on me, not even when all odds were against you, you reached out, even as I tore you apart, I…no one had ever done that for me"

"As you said before, because my mothers did it for me, I can appreciate their sacrifice. And of course I would have kept on fighting for you, but now it's time for you to fight for yourself" she said "choose who you want to be"

"I don't know where to begin"

"How about a name?" She suggested "something that gives you honor" she leaned in to hug him as he carefully laid one arm around, mindful not to hurt her "thank you" she mumbled "I wasn't really sure if I would stop, I almost crossed a line that…"

Superboy embraced her closer "you didn't" he mumbled "and I won't ever let you do it" he promised "take care, cousin"

"You too" she let go as she made her way next to her mothers, both looking at her expectantly. She sighed.

"I know. I know all you are going to say and you are right, no excuses for myself this time, I am just ready to go home"

Both shared a knowing and loving smile "Despite all of it, we are indeed, incredibly proud of you, Lera. You've proven yourself to be capable of things beyond our imagination, and when faced with decisions, you showed that your heart was on the right place"

The teen smiled brightly by the praise.

"That being said, you are still totally grounded" Kara added.

"What?"

"Oh yes young lady, no hero work for you and you are to stay in bed for the next two weeks" Lena included.

"But-what about my work at the DEO?"

"You've heard your mom" Kara replied "no crime fighting for at least a month, we can spend that time looking for some extracurricular activities to enroll you to" she said smiling at Lena, the CEO was no longer raising her on her own like that anymore.

Lera sighed smiling nonetheless "as long as we can all go back home"

"We are home, as long as we are together" they wrapped their arms around her crossing the portal.

After the blue flash of light, a new life was sure to begin for all of them.

Three months later…

"Lera! Don't forget your soccer shoes" Kara shouted from the entrance of her apartment.

"That's not what they are called mom!" She said back running with her bag on her shoulder "and do I really have to go to practice today?"

"Yes you do, you made a commitment to the team" she pointed out "plus, it's the fourth sport you've tried, please try to keep up the appearances"

"I'm aware, but today is the day!" She said excitedly making Kara smile as well.

"I know, inah, but that's until this afternoon, so you have plenty of time to prepare later, plus, Lena already made all the arrangements, ok?"

Lera sighed in mocked defeat "fine" she walked to the door "but can I at least score five goals today?"

"Just if you can make three of them look like accidents" Kara chuckled back "now come on, we can fly to the park and walk the rest from there, how about that?"

"Race you to it?"

"You know I don't feel comfortable with- looser washes the dishes!" She took a head-start as her daughter chased after Laughing.

"Cheater!"  
________________

"Good, all the security procedures are in place" Alex said looking at the screen in the DEO before her phone rang, she smiled while answering.

"Hey, Lena. I was about to call you"

"Hi, Alex. I'm sorry, I know you must be busy"

"Hey, today is the day. I am actually pretty excited" she admitted "all is ready on our end"

"That's great" Lena said relieved "I was actually going to ask if Kara was around"

"That's what I was going to call you about, she got held up in a burning building, might take her another half an hour"

"Ow, I see" She sighed "I hate to ask, but do you think you could pick Lera up from soccer? I got another one of those 'death to the Luthor Legacy' letters today, I know Lera can handle herself but the other moms frown upon me almost as much as the media for letting her go by herself to places and I would feel better if she was with you, just in case this isn't pure barking"

"I'll gladly pick her up, I am her aunt" Alex said "don't worry about the letter, I'll get someone to look into it"

"Thank you for having my back, Alex"

"We are family, Lena" she said earnestly "anyways, I better go and you must be busy planning this whole evening, so I'll let you to it"

"Thank you, see you later"

"You bet"  
_______________________

Lera picked the duffle bag as she saw the government issued car pulling over, she could hear all the other girls and their mothers mumbling and gossiping.

"Hey, kiddo!" Alex got out of the blinded black car.

"Aunt!" She sprinted forwards hugging her "I didn't know you were going to come for me"

"Well, if you stopped breaking all your cellphones I could have called ahead" she messed her hair up making her chuckle.

"Is mom on the job?"

"Both are, but don't worry, we'll all be ready"

"Is uncle Clark still coming?"

"Of course, he is just cleaning Metropolis one last time before heading here" she patted her shoulder as she noticed the glances that were casted in their direction "how are you liking soccer?"

Lera wrinkled her nose "I liked hockey better"

"Well, as much as Lena insisted, we couldn't keep paying for all the dental of the other girls, that was raising suspicions" she wrapped an arm around her shoulder "give it time, once you can restrain your abilities a bit more, you'll find something you like"

Lera shrugged "I could spend more time at the DEO"

"Your internship begins next week, and don't think I will go easy on you, you'll learn all the ropes and procedures as everybody else, from the very administrative to the action of the field"

"I have Lena's antiques, paperwork doesn't scare me"

"I will find something that does" she teased "now, let's go, all the stares are making me uneasy"

"I'm getting used to it, I do have the Luthor last name on display, I am a public figure"

"Yeah, but you have the right to be yourself above all and I know Kara and Lena agree, so, if someone gives you trouble, let me handle it, kiddo"

"Thanks, Aunt Alex"  
_______________

Clark Kent fixed his tie as he walked through the streets.

"Yes, Lois, I have the pie you baked with me, don't worry, I didn't dropped it and no, I didn't ate it. Yes, I'll tell Kara you'll make it to dinner. Yes, I can't wait for you to meet them either, today is the day"

_________________  
Lera awaited impatiently inside the DEO, 90 days later and finally, today was the day. The portal opened at last and after a sparkle of light, diverse figures came in.

"You are here!" Lera launched forward hugging Kid Flash and Superboy.

"Lera!"

"It's been so long!" She was embraced back as Wally swirled her around once before Superboy carefully wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. His always serious features softened as he held her. Lera could hear his heartbeat, it was calm, serene and solemn, just like himself, his real self. She couldn't wait to actually get to memorize such rhythm so she could always find him.

"I've missed you so much" Lera mumbled letting go to look at both as she whipped the corner of her eye.

"Right back at ya, Lee" Wally offered a genuine gesture before smiling again "Look at you, no casts around your bones, someone's been behaving" he teased.

"Or maybe I am just getting better at self-regeneration"

"Doubt it"

"Hey, I can still wrestle you"

Wally chuckled throwing his hands up "hey, I just got here, let me see the place first before I visit the hospital"

Their laughter and chatting overflowed the place as another man made his way across the portal. The older Danvers greeted him.

"You must be Alex"

"And you must be Alex" he said back stretching his hand "a pleasure to finally meet you" he stood still waiting for a reaction, being fully aware of how poorly his face was received due to the similarities with their own villain, but to his surprise Alex shook firmly with a smile.

"I've heard so much about you, it's nice to put another name to the face" she offered "I can't wait to hear all about these past few months"

"Likewise"

"Aunt Alex!" Lera interrupted "you remember Wally" she presented "and this is-"

"My nephew" she jumped in looking at the tall boy that wore too much life experience in such a young face, she related to the burden he carried in his eyes "hi, I am Alex, well, another Alex but same name as-"

"My dad" he finished "it's nice to meet you, Alex Danvers" he greeted "I am Connor Kent"

Alex raised a brow as Alexander patted Connor's shoulder "the Kents at our dimension welcomed us into the family, we are both taking the surname" he explained.

Alex smirked "fitting" she said before turning around "well kids, the city is yours, you can go paint the town, but don't forget to make it on time to dinner"

"We won't"

"Good, afterwards we are finally having our game night, Lena remodeled a whole floor at her building to make an arcade"

"Awesome!" Wally cheered "Barry better be on time"

"We'll be expecting all of them later" Alexander said.

"We'll do the waiting" Alex said "now go have fun"  
___________________

The three teens started to walk as Lera showed them around while they were all catching up.

"So, Connor?" Lera smiled "why did you chose it?"

"You said to chose a name with honor in it" he shrugged his shoulders.

"You didn't phonetically chose it because of it, did you?" She asked chuckling and he just arched a brow almost challengingly without giving an answer.

"Get used to his mysterious flair" Wally rolled his eyes "he keeps pulling out stunts in the middle of our patrols"

"How is that duo working?" She asked excitedly.

"Manageable" Connor shrunk his shoulders cooly.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, partner" Wally scuffed "I never thought I would be the sensitive one when it came to planning"

"My plans are straight forward, get on board or get out of the way" Superboy challenged.

"So…are you a hero now?" Lera asked carefully "is that what you want to be as well?"

He looked down at himself "it feels…the most welcoming" he offered a genuine smile to her and Lera beamed.

"Maybe we can partner up sometime, too. Family duo?"

"Guys, I am still here" Wally waved making them chuckle.

"Ok, Double SuperFlash team then" Lera provided "how is Barry handling your team ups, by the way?"

" I'm pretty sure he knows we sneak out every night to stop petty crimes, but he let's us get away with it, he has other things to consider"

"Like what? Why didn't he came with you?"

"He got held back, he needed a bit of extra time"

"Why?" Lera asked out of curiosity.

"Iris was having morning sickness again" Connor answered calmly.

"Iris is pregnant?!"

"Way to ruin the surprise!" Wally groaned "they were going to announce it to everyone after dinner tonight"

"Those are great news!" Lera celebrated "congratulations! Wally! You will be an uncle"

"Thanks, Lee" they hugged.

"Lera?" A familiar voice called from the end of the street "hey, it is you" a couple walked towards.

"Stephanie, Tim. Hi" she smiled politely letting go of Wally.

"Hey! Long time no see" Stephanie greeted "where have you been?"

"Too many places" she held a tight smile.

"At once" Wally added smirking, sharing a knowing look with the two half kryptonians.

"Hey, you said you didn't have friends, glad to see otherwise" Stephanie commented.

"A lot of things have changed lately" she said "this is my cousin Connor and my friend Wally, they came from out of town to visit" Lera introduced them.

"Hi" Wally waved, Connor resumed to only nod his head in acknowledgment.

"We came to visit too" said Tim fixing his dark shades "see how the night live is here"

"I hope you'll like it?" Lera shrugged "it's a pretty quiet place"

"We'll see about that" Tim smirked endearing.

"Hey, we are staying in town for a couple more days, maybe we could all hang -" Stephanie was about to suggest but before more could be said several police cars raced down the street at full speed with the sirens on.

Both groups exchanged fast glances.

"You know what? We forgot, we have to run, we are late-!"

"Yeah, we have somewhere to be too, see you around" both ran in opposite directions suiting up.  
_______________________________________  
Kara exhaled fixing her glasses as she raced into CatCo's main office.

"The fire is finally out, that took so long" she complained looking into her phone "I already called the banquette, they think you are throwing such a big meal for a hundred people when you actually are just going to feed three super powered teenagers and another three really underpaid superheroes" she chuckled to herself finally noticing the lack of response on Lena's part, she was still facing away from her "hey, everything ok?" She walked towards her desk as Lena fidgeted with something in her hands.

"You know Kara? I've been doing a lot of thinking lately…with all that has happened these last months"

"Ok" Kara said carefully, she couldn't tell what was going on.

"And I mean, so much has changed" Lena continued still giving her back "with Lera, the way we had to change our lives, how raising her separately has been so challenging"

"Lena, I promise, I will take part-I-I am getting involved"

"I know" Lena breathed unevenly cluing Kara in as she could hear her heartbeat picking up rapidly "but after what happened with Lex it got me thinking, to hell with subtelties" she turned around looking at her, her eyes concealed pure excitement and terror all at once "I want you to move in" she all but blurted as she extended her a key duplicate of her apartment "you have been stepping up raising Lera in a commendable way and you have supported her and…the only thing that makes sense for me right now is that you live with her, with- with me" she gazed deep into her eyes "No more dancing around avoiding the media, no more schedules to see who picks her up or in which house she gets to spend the night, we are a family, might as well be on the same home" she concluded "so, what do you say?"

Then a silence took over and Lena started to loose her nerve as Kara stood uselessly still.

Lena averted her gaze feeling a knot in her stomach, she didn't know if Kara was to feel the same way, because one way or another Kara had Superman as her family for the house of El and the Danvers when it came to her civilian self. Lena really only had Lera and… her. She swallowed the knot in her throat and dared to look into her eyes again "I understand if-!" She didn't get to finish that sentence as a powerful embrace cut her short and Kara held her tight in arms.

"I didn't had the chance to say it before" the kryptonian began, her face hiding in the crook of the CEO's neck as tears threatened to scape her eyes "I was scared then, I'm still scared now, but when Lex took you away, the idea of not having you by my side, it frightened me beyond anything I could have imagined" she admitted hiding even further into her shoulder "my world crumbled because…you are one of the most important people to me and... I don't ever want to be apart from you again" she finally said raising her chin to be face to face with her "I…I want to share the experience of seeing Lera grow next to you, going to work, putting the cape on and knowing that at the end of the day, I'll see you again, that I'd be coming home to you…I want to share my…my life with you…" she confessed closing her eyes to rest on the familiar warmth Lena always provided her, like the sun's first kiss on Krypton's sunrises "I am not flying away anymore" she promised "I…love you, Lena Kieran Luthor"

Lena gasped unaware of the air she had been holding on her chest as she dared to wrap her arms around her waist as well "And I love you, Kara Zor-el" she said above a whisper closing her eyes, for the first time breathing in into the reassurance that she belonged somewhere in the world, that she belonged in the arms of someone that meant the world to her.

"We are now getting the first images from downtown, I repeat, this is just in, a group of heroes are taking down a rough alien" a screen from the office announced catching their attention "it looks like Supergirl's sidekick is teaming up with Gotham's vigilantes Robin and Batgirl as well as two unidentified individuals with superpowers"

Both women turned around completely awestruck as they saw the five youngsters fighting side by side doing a perfect team up.

"Are those…?"

"They are"

Before their eyes and being broadcasted to the nation, the newly formed hero team tackled down the threat.

"Maybe Lera will be alright after all" Lena mused out loud.

"They are fighting like giants" Kara said astounded.

"They are all just a group of teens"

"Well, they are brawling together as mighty titans"

Suddenly, a knock from the door took them back to reality as they slipped away from the embrace and a tall mysterious figure walked from behind the shadows "Miss Luthor" a handsome man greeted "Miss Danvers" he fixed the cufflinks of his suit "I believe we have some business to discuss" he stretched his hand "allow me to introduce myself, my name is Bruce Wayne"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yeah, that is the end of it. An open door to endless possibilities of team-ups. Anyways, more than a year later, more than 35 thousand words arranged into a fic and I can finally say, it's done. Took a lot and it might still have something in it for more, but after spending so much time in it, it's a great feeling to give it some closure. Thank you so much for all the support, the favs, follows, comments and beyond that, just thank you for reading, sticking with me through the highs and lows and every other chapter in which I felt like giving up on the idea as a whole. I hope it was as fulfilling for you as it was for me and if it gets to inspire you and make you want to write a story of your own, then there is no other better way to end a fic, than to finish one that can start others. Best of luck, regards and appreciation, Zetara.


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